Discontent (1916)
*** (out of 4)
This early film from Universal deals with Civil War veteran Pearson (J. Edwin Brown), a man living at a vet home but he's not overly happy there. He's constantly bragging about his millionaire nephew and he eventually gets to go live with him. At first all seems well but it doesn't take long for Pearson to grow tired of the place and he begins to cause trouble.
Lois Weber will always be best remembered for her great film SUSPENSE but she made a lot of other good ones and that includes this film. At 25-minutes I thought the film did run on a bit too long but at the same time there are some nice performances here and it's certainly a well-made picture. At times I wasn't sure if the film was trying to be a comedy or a drama but in the end I think it mixed both elements quite nicely. To me the highlight of hte film was the performance by Brown who was quite good playing the vet who's just never happy.
Of course, this film was made a year after D.W. Griffith's THE BIRTH OF A NATION so I'm sure its use of the Civil War had a slight influence on this picture.
