Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927)

After her husband (Arthur Edmond Carewe) escapes his brutal slave owner (Adolph Milar), his wife (Margarita Fischer) overhears that their young son (Lassie Lou Ahern) will soon be taken from her and sold. So she flees with her child into the snowy night in attempt to reach a free state. Based on the 1852 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe and directed by Harry Pollard. Perhaps the most influential novel published in the 19th century, Stowe's novel has a Christian bent and veers toward sentimentality. The Christianity bent is played down in this film version but it's still there. There are some casting issues that deflate any impact the film may have had. The slaves Eliza, Cassy and George are all played by white actors. Thankfully, not in blackface but played as bi-racial to explain their "white" features but they are clearly Caucasian. Granted, in the novel George is of mixed race but in a film about slavery, when you have three of the major black roles played by white actors, it leaves a decidedly uncomfortable taste. Sadly, the character of the mischievous Topsy is played by a white actress (Mona Ray) in blackface. To add to the confusion, Eliza's young son is played by a girl (Lassie Lou Ahern) with curls and ringlets. When a slave trader looks at the child with lust in his eyes and offers to buy "him", it gets downright creepy. There are some effective moments like Eliza's flight across a treacherous ice floe but overall, it loses the novel's impact and is notable as an historical movie artifact rather than as cinema. With James B. Lowe as Uncle Tom, George Siegmann as Simon Legree and Virginia Grey as Little Eva, who would go on to have a long career as a character actress from the 1930s to the 1970s.