THE MOTHERING HEART (1913) - ♦♦♦♦

Directed by - D.W. Griffith

Written by - (uncredited)

Starring - Walter Miller, Lillian Gish, Kate Bruce

"There is something unsettling at the core of THE MOTHERING HEART, a story about a caring and loving wife whose husband is lured into an affair with a woman who opens up a world of night club partying for him, which is far from being that of the life of homely comfort offered by his life companion. 

For starters, there is a strangeness in the framework of the overall silliness of the world of night club flappers that contrasts the dragging normality of the household's monotonous lifestyle in which the wife, played by only one of the greatest actresses of all time LILLIAN GISH, slowly realizes her husband having an affair. In such contrasts of tone and intenstions lies precisely the unsettling nature that makes this short stand out among other shorts by GRIFFITH. 

Once again we see familiar elements both in style and context that make it traceable to the great American filmmaker. One such element is the use of GRIFFITH regular WALTER MILLER, and the afore mentioned LILLIAN GISH, whose borderline insanity inspired by a succession of tragedies, from the realization of her husband's infidelity to the illness of their baby, is quite powerful to the point of shocking and even briefly breaks the fourth wall - an incredibly chilling and powerful moment especially when viewed in the darkness of a screening room."

Drama, USA