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The son (Richard Barthelmess) rebels against the puritanical bigotry of his father (Burr Mcintosh). Mother, intervening, is Kate Bruce, Griffith's perennial "mother" from his Biograph days.
she gives one of her very best and most moving performances. In a purely visual sense, she gets a great deal of help from Griffith's two ace cameramen, Hendrik Sartov and G. W. Bitzer. Sartov, who was Miss Gish's favorite cameraman, contrives some wonderful shots of her— wandering, forlorn, Chaplin-like, down a long country road, or standing by a well at twilight, a white dove nestling against her cheek.
Richard Barthelmess, with comparatively little to do until the second half of the film, gives a pleasing, virile performance as the hero, and there is an exceptionally good performance in a supporting role by Mary Hay (who was Barthelmess' wife). Burr Mcintosh and Kate Bruce made a fine farming couple, and most of the none-too-original comedy relief fell to Creighton Hale.
Despite its fine acting and lyric photography, the film is best remembered today for its great climaxLillian rushing, distraught, into the blizzard, collapsing on the frozen river, and then being trapped on an icefloe as the ice breaks and rushes towards the falls. Despite its serial-like melodrama, it was so expertly (and convincingly) handled by Griffith that even today it has audiences on the edges of their seats, bursting into enthusiastic ( and relieved ) applause when the rescue is finally effected. Barthelmess, in pursuit, runs across the treacherous ice-packed river, jumping from floe to floe, reaching Lillian ultimately at the very brink
On location for the big climactic scene: Griffith stands by the camera at the right, with Lillian Gish in the right foreground. G. W. Bitzer, Griffith's ace cameraman, is at the camera in the center.
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