The Higher Mercy (1912) watch online HD

A war-time picture which gives us a very engaging glimpse of Abraham Lincoln's home life and his fatherly affection for Tod, his little son. Mr. Ince's Lincoln has, in some of its scenes, the same accent on the great President's heavy mindedness which, as shown, we feel to be a mistake, but in these lighter scenes, he has probably struck the right note. It is very fine and human. The hero of the picture, a cowardly soldier who had once saved Tod from drowning, is played by Mr. Morrison, and is just the same figure that we had in "The Seventh Son." Cowardice, even when it is explained away, so far as the spirit is concerned, by being shown as an incurable physical defect, which the coward is burdened with and which he can't help, is not and never can be so effective a theme for art as courage, even if it is due to physical perfection. The half-light of science is deadly to art. The soul knows instinctively the sources of its life and its power. Scientific truth will never compel the soul to love anyone because of degrading imperfections; too many men have overcome in spite of weaknesses. In this case the aim is not love, but pity; it is not a very high aim. In the east we find Julia Swayne Gordon, as the soldier's mother; Rose Tapley, as Mrs. Lincoln; Norma Talmagc, as the soldier's sister; Kenneth Casey, as Tod; Hal Wilson, as a colored servant, and Florence Ashbrook, as Tod's colored nurse. The picture was written by Charles L. Gaskill and produced by W. V. Ranous. - The Moving Picture World, September 21, 1912