The Mission Father (1911) User Reviews

The picture as a whole will appeal as strongly to the natural feelings

[deickemeyer · 12 June 2016]

A tale of hacienda life in old California. In this picture the Melies people have produced a work of much dignity and beauty. There are scenes in it that will appeal strongly to the most fastidious and critical lover of art and the picture as a whole will appeal as strongly to the natural feelings, because of its human truth. It tells the story of an Indian slave's heart, the Mission father being brought in merely as a means to that end. In the first scene (excellently conducted and there is no scene in the picture that is poor) the slave is beaten by his master, the Don, and for a little fault; the Mission father intercedes for him. When the Don is stricken with small-pox, the slave and the priest show forth as more competent than any around them. The priest nursing the Don back to health, catches the disease and dies. The slave half-mad with grief would have killed the Don, if he hadn't also shown much grief just in time. It is a beautiful picture. - The Moving Picture World, January 6, 1912