| The Narrow Road | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | D. W. Griffith |
| Written by | George Hennessy |
| Produced by | Biograph Company |
| Starring | Elmer Booth Mary Pickford |
| Cinematography | Billy Bitzer |
| Distributed by | General Film Company |
Release date |
|
Running time | 17 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Languages | Silent English intertitles |
The Narrow Road is a 1912 short silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and produced and distributed by the Biograph Company. [1]
The film is preserved in the Library of Congress paperprint collection. [2]
Jim Holcomb and his friend are released from prison at the same time. Waiting for Jim is his loving wife.
His friend, a counterfeiter, wants him to rejoin him in crime, but Jim is determined to keep to the straight and narrow. He finds a job at a lumber yard; his hands and shoulder are sore at the end of the day.
His friend resumes his old work. When they run into each other, the friend takes him into a bar and again tries to recruit him. Jim is tempted, but turns him down. They are followed and watched by plainclothes police detectives. The friend pays for their drinks with counterfeit money, which the detectives later confiscate. One detective tracks the counterfeiter to his room. He fetches a uniformed policeman. When the crook does not answer the detective's knocks, they break the door down, but the crook has already escaped out the window. He runs to Jim's place, with the police in pursuit. He persuades Jim to hide his suitcase, containing his counterfeiting equipment, then leaves. Jim's wife argues with him about what he has done. They are interrupted by the knocking of the police. Jim hides the suitcase in the bed. The police break in and start searching the apartment. Fortunately for Jim, two tramps came in through the bedroom window moments before and stole the suitcase. The police find nothing and leave. The counterfeiter spots the tramps with his suitcase. He fights them to get it back, but the police arrive and take him into custody.
Jim goes back to the lumber yard to work. He sees the foreman drop his wallet. He picks it up, undecided as to what to do, but then returns it to the foreman. When a detective questions the foreman, the latter tells him what Jim has done.
Rest of cast: