Children Who Labor (1912) User Reviews

Ripped From the Headlines!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 12 April 2015]

The scandal of children factory workers was already in the news - the year before the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire had killed 146 sweatshop workers, most of them young girls, then in January 1912, 25,000 workers went on strike at the American Woollen Company, many of them young children. Edison was the first studio to tackle the theme in "Children Who Labor" with an all star cast!! This is more like the Edison pictures I've often read about - static, people grouped in tableaux as opposed to acting and very false and stagey looking sets.

There are no jobs on offer at the local factory so an unemployed immigrant tearfully consents to his young daughter (Viola Dana) finding work. Meanwhile a little rich girl walks into their midst. She has gotten off the train to retrieve a dropped toy, the train leaves the station and, distraught, she is taken into the poor man's family. Soon she too must take her place on the factory floor.

Her family, meanwhile, are in a deep depression, the rich father combating it through hard work. He eventually buys the factory where his little girl is working but fate seems against them ever meeting. Until she collapses through exhaustion and at the end gives an impassioned speech to her parents which seems to result in a more humane policy at the factory - with children going off to school instead of to work.

Little Shirley Mason really excelled in her part as the little rich girl. She was the little sister of Viola Dana and even though the film was one of their first jobs, Viola commented later that it was Shirley who the Edison company really wanted - "she was so cute and clever that I just trailed along"!!

Save the Children

[st-shot · 7/10 · 12 March 2008]

The horrors of child labor are examined in this melodrama that cleverly exposes the rank hypocrisy of captains of industry.

In the textile company's greedy attempt to maximize profit it turns to cheap child labor instead of hiring able bodied men. Faced with starving an impoverished father wrestles with allowing his children to be exploited in the mills. Civic minded citizens plead with the mill owner to rescind the practice but he refuses. In an ironic twist the owner's small daughter gets separated from family and is found and taken in by the poor family who eventually reunites her with father curing him of his "family egotism" and allowing him to see the light and everyone else to live happily ever after. If it had only happened that way.

Until child labor laws were enacted later in the century children were exploited in huge numbers. Children who Labor is to be commended for its socially conscious attempt to expose this abominable practice to a larger audience in a work of fiction.

To see it in more graphic and realistic terms I would recommend the documentary photographs of Lewis Hine on children and living conditions of the city's lower classes during this period. They had a great effect on the public and brought changes in the law. Children of Labor I would venture made many in its audience rethink their position on the subject as well.

The Shoe On The Other Foot

[boblipton · 5/10 · 12 March 2020]

Immigrant John Sturgeon can get no job to support his children. All the work is done by young women and children; business owner Robert Conness hires them for their cheapness. When his daughter, Shirley Mason, disappears from a train, he hires detectives to find her. Little does he know that she has been rescued and succored by Sturgeon and his family, who sends her to work under horrifying conditions at Conness's mill.

Edison dramas often had a strong streak of social commentary, and it was in favor of their audience, the lower working class. This story might have a happy ending, but that was a bit of fantasy made palatable by the workings of the movie's plot.

A Melodrama That Makes Its Point

[Snow Leopard · 21 April 2005]

This melodrama was made for the specific purpose of dramatizing the need for reform in the child labor laws of its era, and it makes that point well. The plot is somewhat dependent on coincidence, but in a sense that goes with its implied point, namely that the child labor situation would be ignored unless something unexpected inspired those with sufficient influence to do something about it.

The story contrasts a working class family, reduced to depending on a still-young daughter for income in the local textile mill, with the family of a wealthy businessman who is insensitive to the problems of child labor. The story that ties them together works pretty well in making its points. The characters are believable, and the settings do a decent job for their era of establishing the atmosphere.

While the specific problem that the movie addresses may no longer be a significant concern in most places, the film is interesting in preserving the essence of a situation that, in its day, cried out for reform. Each generation has its own such needs, and some of the general lessons are still valid.

Children Who Labor review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 23 June 2020]

Child labour was a hot topic back in 1912, and this melodramatic short for Edison from Ashley Miller does a good job of turning the issue into an emotional (if preachy) human interest story. The fact that he piles implausibilities on top of improbabilities to do so is simply indicative of the narrative properties of films back then.

Every appeal that it makes to the heart it is absolutely probable

[deickemeyer · 30 September 2016]

There is nothing that so strongly works to make good art as to have one's heart wrapped up in one's subject matter; it is more valuable than experience, training ambition or any other kind of strength. This picture was written by Ethel Browning. Many of its scenes, as produced and acted are very artistic but sincerity glows in every one of its scenes. This reviewer has heard audiences receive good pictures before, but he has never heard the applause that this picture got, given to any other. It was partly because of its subject; the people feel it deeply, but no poor picture would have been received so. The story, artistically manipulated to be effecting, so convincingly moves us that no one stops to think that it is improbable. The picture's life comes from the fact that in every appeal that it makes to the heart it is absolutely probable. Everything that is really significant in it rings true to human life. It is well acted, well photographed. To the exhibitor we will say, it is the popular picture. To the minister we will say here is the chance to give your congregation and Sunday school a sermon that is worthwhile. To the principals of schools we will say, here is education in contemporary conditions for your pupils. To the public we will say, if you see this picture, you'll be enthusiastic for child labor reform and also for moving pictures because they can show you these things. What an optimistic outlook such a picture gives. - The Moving Picture World, March 9, 1912