Mother and Daughters (1912) User Reviews

For the first three-quarters of the film the story drags heavily

[deickemeyer · 20 August 2016]

A comedy with a first-class situation that is typically American and that fulfills one of art's important functions, viz.: it criticizes life for the sake of health and humanity. The mother let the girls play while she did the hard work. Consequently they were butterflies and knew so little about cooking that, when mother fell sick, and they had to begin, their work was idiotic. This is a little overdrawn; but serves by way of contrast to the real comedy with which the picture closes. Pa, to teach the girls a lesson, invited the two lovers to dinner while the mother was sick. The table manners of these men (they throw the burnt chops on the carpet) were not very reasonable. In the end the girls get their mother to teach them how to cook. For the first three-quarters of the film the story drags heavily; but the last quarter is very good. If in the early part of the picture the situation hadn't been rubbed-in, the result, one feels, would have been much stronger. It is well photographed and well acted and will serve as a filler. - The Moving Picture World, February 10, 1912