Long before the talkies became a final success in the late 1920s, films were invariably accompanied by music. The programs would often include sing-alongs, and many short films were made which illustrated songs, like the Fleischer Brothers' well-remembered "Screen Songs" which flourished for a decade or more from about 1925 through 1935.
Another series was the "Film Song Album", eight short movies whose stories illustrated popular songs of the day. This is one of them, based on and featuring the ballad of the same name. The story, as it proceeds, is Victorian in attitude. A stock magnate is ruined, collapses at home. Twelve years later, his wife is dead -- one may cynically suppose from a lack of caviar -- the broken rich man is a drunkard, and their daughter earns a poor living selling flowers on the street.
It's a terribly sentimental movie, with an unlikely happy ending. Even so, it demonstrates what the British film industry thought the audiences wanted.
