Although the leads in this Griffith melodrama about a chemist who blinds himself in an accident, causing his society wife to abandon him for a theatrical career, leaving her elder sister to take care of him, is led by members of Griffith's company who never achieved much for him, they did all right elsewhere. The large supporting cast is filled with his usual skilled crew -- if you look, you can spot Mack Sennett in a small role at one of the parties.
Although the wife is the villain of the piece -- terrible woman going onto the stage! -- Griffith raises some interesting and telling questions about then-current attitudes towards divorce. Given the difference in the couple's characters when they marry, should she stay with him after his blindness? Yes, the acting is noticeably below the standards of Griffith's usual leads, but the story is worth telling and the question is worth asking. Have we answered it any better a century later?
Although the wife is the villain of the piece -- terrible woman going onto the stage! -- Griffith raises some interesting and telling questions about then-current attitudes towards divorce. Given the difference in the couple's characters when they marry, should she stay with him after his blindness? Yes, the acting is noticeably below the standards of Griffith's usual leads, but the story is worth telling and the question is worth asking. Have we answered it any better a century later?
