Leo Delaney has worked hard to earn enough money to buy his own pushcart. However, when Charles Kent, the father of his girl friend, Zena Keefe, falls ill and she is about to sell her hair to pay for medicine, he puts his dreams on hold for her sake.
It's an average story for the movies of the era, reminiscent of O. Henry. What the modern viewer may not recognize is the fine composition and other strong visual components of the film. The modern movie fan may be familiar with the work of D.W. Griffith in this era and think that his contemporaries had little to offer. However, this film, with its concern for the poor emigrant -- who made up an important component of the movie audience at the time -- shows that there were others in the field making important contributions to the rapidly changing art. If you go to the Harpodeon.com site, you will see some evidence of that.
It's an average story for the movies of the era, reminiscent of O. Henry. What the modern viewer may not recognize is the fine composition and other strong visual components of the film. The modern movie fan may be familiar with the work of D.W. Griffith in this era and think that his contemporaries had little to offer. However, this film, with its concern for the poor emigrant -- who made up an important component of the movie audience at the time -- shows that there were others in the field making important contributions to the rapidly changing art. If you go to the Harpodeon.com site, you will see some evidence of that.
