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The Better Way
Also known as Mary’s Convert in the USA : [Going Straight]
(1911) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by [?] Thomas H. Ince?
Cast: King Baggot [Louis Perry, a reformed crook], Mary Pickford [Lillian Garvey, a Salvation Army lass], Owen Moore
Independent Moving Pictures Company, Incorporated [IMP] production; distributed by Motion Picture Distributing & Sales Company. / Produced by Carl Laemmle. Cinematography by Tony Gaudio. / Released 12 October 1911. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format. / The film was rereleased in the USA by The Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated, on 12 October 1914. The film was rereleased in the USA by [?] The Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated, or Universal Pictures Corporation? in 1922.
Drama.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? Louis Perry is discharged from the penitentiary, having served his sentence. He immediately resumes relations with his evil companions, being a leader in the criminal acts. One day he happens to meet Lillian Garvey, a Salvation Army worker. One of his companions insults her and he resents it and incurs his enmity. Lillian is the only good woman he has known for years and he learns to love her. Her influence tempts him to abandon the life he is leading, and be attends the services and becomes converted. Just at this juncture Madeline Raymond, a woman of the underworld, who was his sweetheart before he was arrested, again comes into his life. He tries to secure honorable employment, but fate, in the shape of vigilant officers, interferes. They know him for a criminal and warn employers against him. Lillian is loyal in her faith in him and they are married. A small boy is injured by a motor car and Louis takes him to his home. When he arrives he finds Madeline, who has called on his wife and told her all. The revelation has no effect on the faithful wife and she has nothing but pity for the abandoned woman. A physician is called to attend the boy and Madeline resolves to be revenged. She places her purse in a dresser drawer and then summons a policeman, announcing that Louis has robbed her. The physician sees the woman secrete the purse. The policeman arrives and recognizes Louis as a jailbird and is about to arrest him when he notices the injured boy, which is his child. The doctor clears Louis of the charge of theft and the officer congratulates him on his reformation and praises his devoted wife. The incident makes a vivid impression on Madeline and she is resolved to lead an honest life.
Reviews: [The Moving Picture World, 21 October 1911, page ?] 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.
Survival status: The film is presumed lost.
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 10 November 2022.
References: Edmonds-BigU p. 28; Eyman-Pickford p. 326, Pratt-Spellbound p. ? : Website-IMDb.
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