As It Is in Life

What I like about this film is studying it as a time capsule of history. The story is basically of a father not able to marry another woman after his first wife's death because he can't afford to do so. He has a daughter to care for from his first marriage (when she grows up in the film she is played by Mary Pickford). So he sacrifices his happiness to raise his daughter. When she is an adult, and her father is old, she must choose to marry or stay and care for her father. She chooses to marry with some misgivings.. In the end, she brings her baby to see her father, and he finds joy in his grandchild. Imagine, in 1910, when the film was made, no one could run to the welfare office. People actually took responsibility seriously in caring for their kids and actually making huge sacrifices for their decisions in life. The father found a job, remained poor, but did the best he could. A college professor once told my history class that the baby boomers only think with "Me". Today, the father might have put the kid off on someone else, and done what they wanted to do. Look how many kids are raised without fathers today. This film is highly recommended, as a look at film study and a look at history. It is available on Griffith Biographs on Image Silent Classics laserdisc.