User Reviews

Griffith gives us a modern version of the parable of The Prodigal Son with this 'story in symbolism' as the titles call it. He ties together two strands: that of the callow youth who ventures to the city to make his fortune only to end up escaping from prison, and another of a sheriff and his young son. It's not particularly sophisticated, but it's a reasonable watch and does feature an impressive rescue from a rushing river. By the looks of her, the prodigal son's mother must have been about 65 when she had him...

Although many of Mack Sennet's Keystone pictures are burlesques of Griffith's works -- as I noted in my comments to THE BANGVILLE POLICE, it is a send-up of such Griffith works as THE LONELY VILLA -- this is one of the few cases of Chaplin stealing from Griffith after he went out on his own. Or perhaps it was simply the same sort of story and Chaplin wound up borrowing several plot points and images from the Master in which a young man leaves home from the city, goes astray and winds up in prison.

The second half of this movie, in which he escapes from prison and winds up rescuing a young boy, redeeming himself and letting him return home to mother -- although Chaplin contents himself with kicking Eric Campbell, always an enjoyable activity -- is the part that Chaplin stole, including the watery rescue -- although it is no small boy there. Chaplin's version was THE ADVENTURER.

As usual by this period, the photography is excellent, the acting believable, and if Chaplin's burlesque hangs over this film, which is not one of Griffith's better known pieces from this period -- well, it's very good on its own terms.

Modern Prodigal, The (1910)

*** (out of 4)

Winning drama from Griffith has him doing what he does best and that's telling two separate stories and then bringing them together. We see a convict (Guy Hedlund) breaking free from jail but being too ashamed to go to his mother's house. We then see a protective father (George Nichols) walking with his son (Jack Pickford). Away from his father, the boy goes swimming with some friends but drowns only to be saved and brought back to life by the convict. All is well except the boy's father happens to be the Sheriff who then has a decision to make. The story here isn't anything overly special but fans of early cinema and Griffith will certainly find plenty here to enjoy. Once again the best stuff is seeing Griffith handle both stories and how he edits them together to really bring the story to life (or at least a lot better than your typical 1910 film). I think Griffith spent the perfect amount of time to both stories before bringing them together and the actual chase of the convict has some nice drama as well. Hedlund, Nichols and Pickford are all good in their roles as is Kate Bruce as the boy's mother. Griffith regular Mack Sennet would "borrow" quite a bit from this film as would Chaplin in their film THE ADVENTURER.

A modern application of the old story of the prodigal son, representing a young man of these times going to the city, there to fall a victim to its alluring snares. Escaping in prison garb, he seeks his home, and, like the prodigal of old, eats ravenously the husks which are thrown to the swine. He saves the sheriff's child from drowning, but the sheriff does his duty and arrests him. However, the sheriff's wife, yielding to her maternal instincts, allows him to escape and return to his own mother. For dramatic reasons, perhaps, it is well not to quarrel with the author for putting the onus of the young man's downfall upon the city. It had to be placed somewhere, yet is hardly fair to thus again brand the city as a region of crime and a home of criminals. - The Moving Picture World, September 10, 1910