Sim Sloane and his beloved son were the reprobates of the village, not what would be called lovers of peace and kindness. But granddad dwelt in a house filled more with love, and when Sim came in for his brutal sport, he soon went out assisted by granddad. Incited by ridicule and drink, Sim swore to get even. That was where granddad's new supply of powder came in. Sim appropriated it and although he wrecked the house of love, he destroyed through his venom the only thing he cherished in life.
Direction
Griffith already mastering cross-cutting tension
Acting
Mailes's Sim: pathetic villain, devastating collapse
Director
D.W. Griffith
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Lionel Barrymore appears here 20 years before his iconic Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life.
This exemplifies Griffith's 'pathetic fallacy' technique — nature mirroring moral collapse, later perfected in Way Down East.
US
