Mothers Cry

During Hollywood's Golden Era, Lenore J. Coffee made her name as the screenwriter of such powerful women-centered melodramas as Four Daughters and The Great Lie. This early talkie scripted by Coffee falls in that celebrated genre, with a story that had moviegoers rooting for a courageous woman confronted by hardship. Mary Williams (Dorothy Peterson in her film debut) is a struggling widow who devotes her life to her four children. But trouble lies ahead for all four -- including her oldest, Danny (Edward Woods, also debuting), a conniving thug who has tormented his family since childhood. Woods' next role would be a star-maker for someone else. He was cast as the lead in The Public Enemy, with James Cagney playing his pal, until director William A. Wellman, impressed by Cagney's screen presence, told the actors to swap roles.

• classic
• drama