The Cry of the Children 1912

An indictment of the evils of child labor, the film was controversial in its time for its use of actual footage of children employed in a working mill. The Cry of the Children is a 1912 American silent short drama film directed by George Nichols for the Thanhouser Company.[1] The 29 minute picture, based on the poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning about child labor, stars Marie Eline, Ethel Wright, and James Cruze. The film was released on 30 April 1912. Controversially it featured real footage of child labor in factories.[2] The film was selected into preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant“ in 2011.