Tol'able David (Silent) (DVD)

Young David Kinemon's rural West Virginia paradise is ruined when a deranged family of ex-cons, the Hatburns, take over the cabin down the road. Within a week of their arrival, the Hatburns murder David's older brother. When Pa Kinemon picks up his shotgun to avenge his slain son, he suffers a fatal heart attack. Evicted from their farm, the young boy and his mother struggle to survive. As the years pass, David dreams of the day he is old enough to visit justice upon his brother's killers.

Upon its initial release, Tol'able David was a great success with Richard Barthelmess starring in what many critics consider his best performance. A family friend, Russian actress Alla Nazimova, helped Barthelmess break into motion pictures. When he co-starred with her in War Brides (1916), he came to the attention of D.W. Griffith. In 1919 he rose to fame starring in the classic Broken Blossoms and again in 1920's Way Down East, which features the iconic Hollywood scene where he leaps over ice floes to save the heroine from the falls. Barthelmess would deliver powerful performances in The Patent Leather Kid (1927), The Noose (1928), The Dawn Patrol (1930) and Only Angels Have Wings (1939) before retiring to live off of the proceeds of his successful real estate investments.

• silent