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HISTORY

The U.S. Library of Congress catalog gives the following description: “A brother and sister make a pact that one will always keep flowers on their dead mother’s grave. The boy becomes a priest, but his sister runs away with a ne’er-do-well, and bears him a child out of wedlock. They are finally married by a priest who is called to administer last rites to the ne’er-do-well when he is injured in a barroom brawl. The sister starts home with her small daughter. She stops at her mother’s grave, where her brother finds her as she is kneeling in prayer. He takes them both home to reunite them with their aged father. There are several camera movements from full shots to close-ups, with dissolves between scenes.”
       The 1 Oct 1910 Moving Picture World ran the following review: “The story of two partially orphaned children, brought up by their father, after the death of their mother. The boy turns out all right, but the girl, not knowing the machinations of men, elopes with a city man and for ten long years suffers the consequence of her folly. At last, the tempter being dead, she returns to her mother's grave, where she is found by her brother, and they are all once more united in their father's arms. It is not a pleasant story, yet it undoubtedly presents a phase of life which, in modifications, is more or less common. One doesn't care to dwell upon it, yet so well is it acted and so strongly does it appeal to one, that its influence cannot be shaken off. It lingers, regardless of the knowledge that it is only a picture. ...

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The U.S. Library of Congress catalog gives the following description: “A brother and sister make a pact that one will always keep flowers on their dead mother’s grave. The boy becomes a priest, but his sister runs away with a ne’er-do-well, and bears him a child out of wedlock. They are finally married by a priest who is called to administer last rites to the ne’er-do-well when he is injured in a barroom brawl. The sister starts home with her small daughter. She stops at her mother’s grave, where her brother finds her as she is kneeling in prayer. He takes them both home to reunite them with their aged father. There are several camera movements from full shots to close-ups, with dissolves between scenes.”
       The 1 Oct 1910 Moving Picture World ran the following review: “The story of two partially orphaned children, brought up by their father, after the death of their mother. The boy turns out all right, but the girl, not knowing the machinations of men, elopes with a city man and for ten long years suffers the consequence of her folly. At last, the tempter being dead, she returns to her mother's grave, where she is found by her brother, and they are all once more united in their father's arms. It is not a pleasant story, yet it undoubtedly presents a phase of life which, in modifications, is more or less common. One doesn't care to dwell upon it, yet so well is it acted and so strongly does it appeal to one, that its influence cannot be shaken off. It lingers, regardless of the knowledge that it is only a picture. Perhaps it will teach its lesson. It is strong enough to do it without any question.”
       Interiors were shot at Biograph’s studio at 11 East 14th Street in New York City.
       An advertisement in the 17 Sep 1910 Moving Picture World described In Life’s Cycle as: “The Persevering Prayers of a Brother Answered.”

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GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS
SOURCE CITATIONS
SOURCE
DATE
PAGE
LCMP
p. 28, column 3
LCPP
p. 194
EMP
p. 155
BIOB2
p. 230
BPL
pp. 130-131
The Daily Worker
p. 90
Moving Picture News
24 Sep 1910
p. 12tr
Moving Picture World
17 Sep 1910
p. 643ts, 644ta, 650tl
Moving Picture World
1 Oct 1910
p. 748tr
Nickelodeon
15 Sep 1910
p. 161-162
Variety
24 Sep 1910
tr
CAST
NAME
CREDITED AS
CREDIT

PRODUCTION CREDITS
NAME
PARENT COMPANY
PRODUCTION COMPANY
DISTRIBUTION COMPANY
NAME
CREDITED AS
CREDIT
DIRECTOR
WRITER
PHOTOGRAPHY
G. W. Bitzer
Cam
DETAILS
Release Date:
15 September 1910
Production Date:

Copyright Info
Claimant
Date
Copyright Number
Biograph Co.
19 September 1910
J145612
Physical Properties:
Silent
Black and White
Length(in feet):
997
Country:
United States
SYNOPSIS

“The mother is real guardian angel of the child. Her guiding hand and tender care mould our character and make us, if we adhere to their precepts, the upright men and women we should be. Consequently what a disastrous thing is the loss of a mother by young children. There is the father you would say—yes, but he does not understand the shaping of their little minds, building their natures, though he would lay down his own life for their good. This is the sad condition of the two children in this Biograph story. James Mullen, living in retirement at his country villa since the death of his wife, finds consolation in the love of his two children, Clara and Vincent, aged ten and twelve years respectively. It has been their custom to visit their mother’s grave and place a wreath of flowers upon it. Seven years later, the children now grown, Vincent leaves for the seminary to study for the priesthood, while Clara undertakes to console their father, promising not to forget their mother’s grave. Vincent, now a seminarian, writes to his sister of how happy he is in the call of the church. Clara, while returning from the post office, whither she had gone in quest of a letter from Vincent, meets a handsome young man from the city. This stranger immediately lays siege to her heart, which feeling is more than reciprocated by Clara. She yields to the temptation to meet him clandestinely and during these meetings the stranger tries to persuade her to elope with him. At last she consents, and leaving a letter for her father, runs off to the city with the tempter. ...

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“The mother is real guardian angel of the child. Her guiding hand and tender care mould our character and make us, if we adhere to their precepts, the upright men and women we should be. Consequently what a disastrous thing is the loss of a mother by young children. There is the father you would say—yes, but he does not understand the shaping of their little minds, building their natures, though he would lay down his own life for their good. This is the sad condition of the two children in this Biograph story. James Mullen, living in retirement at his country villa since the death of his wife, finds consolation in the love of his two children, Clara and Vincent, aged ten and twelve years respectively. It has been their custom to visit their mother’s grave and place a wreath of flowers upon it. Seven years later, the children now grown, Vincent leaves for the seminary to study for the priesthood, while Clara undertakes to console their father, promising not to forget their mother’s grave. Vincent, now a seminarian, writes to his sister of how happy he is in the call of the church. Clara, while returning from the post office, whither she had gone in quest of a letter from Vincent, meets a handsome young man from the city. This stranger immediately lays siege to her heart, which feeling is more than reciprocated by Clara. She yields to the temptation to meet him clandestinely and during these meetings the stranger tries to persuade her to elope with him. At last she consents, and leaving a letter for her father, runs off to the city with the tempter. Vincent has s premonition of something wrong and hastens to his father’s side where he learns the truth. He breathes a prayer for her deliverance, hut she is made to suffer for her false step. She goes through a purgatory ten years with this man who not only denies her the right to the name of wife, but subjects her and their child to abject poverty, he drinking up what little she earns. In a drunken brawl at the saloon he falls against the rail of the bar, injuring himself fatally, but before he dies, he, in a measure, makes reparation by marrying Clara. During all this time, Vincent has attended to the mother’s grave, begging her interception before God in his sister’s behalf, the whereabouts of whom he is ignorant. After the death of her profligate consort Clara takes her little one and starts off to make a last visit to her mother’s grave. Here she falls prostrate, praying for help and forgiveness. In this position she is found by Vincent who arrives on his regular pilgrimage. At last his prayers have been answered for. Later, Vincent, Clara and her little one are folded to the old father’s breast.”—17 Sep 1910 Moving Picture World

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Legend
Viewed by AFI
Partially Viewed
Offscreen Credit
Name Occurs Before Title
AFI Life Achievement Award

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The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.