A Baby's Shoe (1909) User Reviews

Programmatic Summary

[Single-Black-Male · 23 February 2004]

The 34 year old D.W. Griffith causes tension in his viewers in this short film by swaying them to oppose his parochial views that are expressed through his characters. The story serves his agenda, omitting diversity and rewriting history.

The heart interest of the picture is unusually strong

[deickemeyer · 13 September 2014]

A Biograph picture full of dramatic situations and interest. In the hands of this capable company a simple story has been converted into a soul-stirring play. A mother is forced by her poverty to leave a baby girl on a wealthy family's doorstep. She returns to her home, where she has one little boy, is taken with a severe illness and dies almost instantly. The doctor summons a priest and he takes the little boy home. The mother retains one of the baby girl's little shoes and this the priest keeps when he takes the boy. Fifteen years pass. The boy has been brought up dedicated to the cause of the church. He is about to take holy orders when he stops a runaway and saves a girl from death. A mutual attachment springs up and they are about to be married. The family who have brought the girl up bring out all the things that they found with her, including the shoe. The priest starts in terror. He recognizes the shoe, and taking the mate from his own pocket declares that the marriage cannot proceed since this couple are brother and sister. The shock to the young people is fearful. Both nearly swoon. Then they are shown, the girl in a sister's garb and the boy with his vestments ready to assume his holy orders. The heart interest of the picture is unusually strong and the denouement is so real and the acting so good that it visibly affects the audience. It is a little different from the dramas usually presented by the Biograph Company, but it is none the less good. Details are carefully worked out and apart from a slight crowding in some of the staging there is nothing to criticise. - The Moving Picture World, May 15, 1909