Tears and Smiles (1917)

Countries - United States  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Janiss Garza

This melodramatic feature -- a vehicle for Baby Marie Osborne, who was the 1910s Shirley Temple -- is particularly Victorian in tone. Little Marie (Osborne) watches as her drunken father beats up her mother (Marian Warner). The father is arrested and the mother taken to a hospital. Marie is left alone. When she befriends a dog she winds up at the owner's home. Broker Bertrand Greer (Philo McCullough) has always wanted to adopt a child, and his wife has finally agreed when Marie arrives. She's taken in and when her mother recovers, she convinces the Greers to hire her as a maid without revealing her identity. The household is a happy one until Marie's father gets out of prison. When his wife refuses to return to him, he kidnaps Marie. Greer finally discovers the truth about Marie and her mother and they head for her old home. Marie's father has been shot and killed by an officer. Greer's wife, meanwhile, has taken an overdose of headache medicine (apparently headaches required much stronger remedies in those days) and she too dies. Marie plays matchmaker and inspires Greer and her mother to wed.