The latest release of the Biograph Company would seem to point to the fact that their scene of operations has been shifted from Fourteenth Street to the country. Presumably, when this picture was made, the staff had not settled down to its work, for the result can hardly be said to be equal to the very high standard to which the Biograph Company have recently accustomed us. Some of the earlier scenes of the film are, we think, idyllic. The meeting of a girl and her lover amongst the fruit blossoms, for example. The remainder of the film, however, is far below this in merit. The main thread of the story is simple, it is true, but to our minds hardly an agreeable one. Of course, the story is exceedingly improbable. It is inconceivable that after a lapse of five years a man and a woman in full possession of their faculties could fail to recognize their own son, especially when he was asleep, and even though he wore a beard. On the other hand, if it is conceivable, it is straining the probabilities too far. The whole story is unpleasant, and we regret that the Biograph Company should have had their very high reputation jeopardized by such work. It is obvious that there has been a lapse somewhere. The photography of the piece is not up to the Biograph level, nor is the acting. We have not the smallest doubt that very speedy efforts will be made to efface the indifferent impression created by Monday's release. - The Moving Picture World, June 19, 1909
Review of The Son's Return
