Mothers Cry

Mothers Cry is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., and directed by Hobart Henley. The movie stars Dorothy Peterson, Helen Chandler, David Manners, Evalyn Knapp and Sidney Blackmer. The film is based on the popular novel of the same name written by Helen Grace Carlisle.^[1]

Mothers Cry
theatrical poster
Directed by	Hobart Henley
Screenplay by	Lenore J. Coffee
Based on	Mothers Cry 1930 novel by Helen Grace Carlisle
Produced by	Robert North
Starring	Dorothy Peterson Helen Chandler David Manners Sidney Blackmer Evalyn Knapp
Cinematography	Gilbert Warrenton
Edited by	Frank Ware
Music by	David Mendoza Erno Rapee
Production company	First National Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	December 7, 1930 (1930-12-07) (U.S.)
Running time	76 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Plot

The film is focused on the life of widowed mother Mary Williams (Dorothy Peterson) and her struggles to raise her four children. Daniel (Edward Woods), her eldest, torments her and his siblings throughout his childhood and grows up to be a criminal. Younger son Arthur (David Manners) grows up to be a successful architect. Daughter Jennie (Evalyn Knapp) loves domestic work and homelife and is courted by Karl Muller (Reinhold Pasch), a wealthy older gentleman. The other daughter, Beattie (Helen Chandler), grows up to be an idealistic dreamer.

One day Daniel doublecrosses some gangsters, who beat him up, and he disappears for three years, returning with a moll whom he introduces as his wife. Meanwhile, Jennie has married Muller. Detectives trail Daniel to his mother's house as a suspect in a holdup and he's sent to prison. Daniel's return drives away Beattie, who ends up doing secretarial work at a Palm Beach hotel. There, she is seduced by a married man, who later pays her off to leave. Daniel reappears at the house with a blackmail scheme and ends up shooting and murdering his own sister Beattie. He is convicted of cold-blooded murder and sent to the electric chair. The film ends with Mary finding consolation in her two remaining children.

Cast

• Dorothy Peterson as Mary Williams
• Helen Chandler as Beattie Williams
• David Manners as Arthur 'Artie' Williams
• Evalyn Knapp as Jenny Williams
• Sidney Blackmer as Mr. Gerald Hart
• Edward Woods as Daniel 'Danny' Williams
• Jean Laverty as Sadye Noonan Williams
• Patrick H. O'Malley, Jr. as Frank Williams
• Boris Karloff uncredited (disputed in some sources)^[2]

Preservation

A censored version of this film survives, prepared for re-release after June 1934 to remove pre-code material, which is missing at least two minutes of footage. This version has been broadcast on television and cable. The film has been released on DVD by the Warner Archive Collection.

The Library of Congress has long held a copy of the surviving version of this film.^[3]

References

Notes

1. The AFI Catalog of Feature Films:..Mother's Cry
2. . Archived from the original on March 2, 2017.
3. Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress (<-book title) p.121 c.1978 the American Film Institute

External links

• Mothers Cry at IMDb  
• Mothers Cry at the TCM Movie Database
• synopsis at AllMovie
• Mothers Cry at the American Film Institute Catalog