Two or three years ago a very clever vaudeville sketch called "The Undertow" was going the rounds of the different circuits. The same story is here told in pictures, but much that is merely implied in the sketch is fully told in the film story. The hero is just out of prison and is in love with and marries a good little woman. He is trying to lead an honest life, but the "undertow" (the influence of both his old associates and of the police) is very hard to contend with. The climax is brought about by a woman of the streets who comes to his room and tells his wife that she is going to get him back in the old ways again. He is absent, having gone for a doctor to help a child whom he has just rescued. The evil woman hides her purse and accuses him of theft. The policeman finds the purse and is about to make an arrest when he discovers that the hurt child is his own. The trouble is then straightened out. The picture has what one may safely call a grip. - The Moving Picture World, October 21, 1911
2 Reviews
The Better Way - Lost 1911 silent film
PamelaShort27 July 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Tracking down an original 1911 synopsis for this lost film is all I can offer the reader.
The Better Way - The reformation of a criminal through the influence of a Salvation Army worker furnishes a theme for a very interesting story, replete with pathos and the right sort of appeal.
The erstwhile leader of a bad gang is released form prison only to join his former associates and resume a career of crime. The woman of the underworld, with whom he has associated before his conviction, again exerts her power over him and he is fairly launched on his downward career, when he meets a sweet, sympathetic Salvation Army woman who immediately becomes interested in him. The good influence triumphs over the bad and he endeavors to secure work. However, his old nemesis in the way of his record of crime pursues him and when he is engaged an officer lays bare his past and he is promptly arrested. How the leader finally marries the faithful girl and assists her in her work and triumphs is a sad story. The former sweetheart endeavors to win him back to a life of crime and nearly succeeds when fortune favours him and all is made clear to the officers, who exonerate him. The gang is informed of his conversion and the influence on the abandoned woman is deemed salutary by reason of the kindness of the wife of the ex-convict.
A favourable storyline for the time, good triumphing over evil was very popular with early film goers. A surviving scene still photo shows Mary Pickford clutched in the arms of the reformed hero at the climax of the story, with the other woman and a policeman looking on. King Baggot is listed playing Louis Perry, the reformed crook with Pickford playing Lillian Garvey, the Salvation Army Lass. Owen Moore was in this film, but his role is not listed. Directed by Thomas H. Ince, this remains another tragic lost silent film for those interested in studying this early genre and the early films of Mary Pickford.
The Better Way - The reformation of a criminal through the influence of a Salvation Army worker furnishes a theme for a very interesting story, replete with pathos and the right sort of appeal.
The erstwhile leader of a bad gang is released form prison only to join his former associates and resume a career of crime. The woman of the underworld, with whom he has associated before his conviction, again exerts her power over him and he is fairly launched on his downward career, when he meets a sweet, sympathetic Salvation Army woman who immediately becomes interested in him. The good influence triumphs over the bad and he endeavors to secure work. However, his old nemesis in the way of his record of crime pursues him and when he is engaged an officer lays bare his past and he is promptly arrested. How the leader finally marries the faithful girl and assists her in her work and triumphs is a sad story. The former sweetheart endeavors to win him back to a life of crime and nearly succeeds when fortune favours him and all is made clear to the officers, who exonerate him. The gang is informed of his conversion and the influence on the abandoned woman is deemed salutary by reason of the kindness of the wife of the ex-convict.
A favourable storyline for the time, good triumphing over evil was very popular with early film goers. A surviving scene still photo shows Mary Pickford clutched in the arms of the reformed hero at the climax of the story, with the other woman and a policeman looking on. King Baggot is listed playing Louis Perry, the reformed crook with Pickford playing Lillian Garvey, the Salvation Army Lass. Owen Moore was in this film, but his role is not listed. Directed by Thomas H. Ince, this remains another tragic lost silent film for those interested in studying this early genre and the early films of Mary Pickford.
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