The Greatest Question
Cast & Crew
D. W. Griffith
Lillian Gish
George Fawcett
Eugenie Besserer
Robert Harron
Ralph Graves
Film Details
Synopsis
Four-year-old Nellie Jarvis witnesses the murder and burial of a girl by a man and his wife, but as she grows older, her memory of the event becomes vague. Nellie goes to live with the poor Hilton family after her parents die, but when John, the eldest son, goes to war, Nellie goes to work for the brutal Cains, who, unknown to her, murdered the girl. After John dies and Mrs. Hilton has a vision of him at the moment of death, the Hiltons, on the verge of selling their farm, go to John's grave where his ghost advises them to keep it. The next day oil is found on their land. The youngest Hilton son, Jimmie, who loves Nellie, goes to tell her the news and rescues her just as Mrs. Cain, who discovered her husband trying to rape Nellie, is about to murder her because Nellie now remembers them as murderers. The Cains are arrested and Nellie and Jimmie look forward to a happy future.
Director
D. W. Griffith
Cast
Lillian Gish
George Fawcett
Eugenie Besserer
Robert Harron
Ralph Graves
George Nichols
Josephine Crowell
Tom Wilson
Crew
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The continuity contains the subtitle "a story of the strange meandering river of life." The continuity also gives the names of the character played by George Nichols as "Martin Cain" and that played by Josephine Crowell as "Mrs. Cain," while reviews call them "Mr. and Mrs. Scrubble." Wid's credits D. W. Griffith with the scenario. Modern sources credit S. E. V. Taylor as the scenarist and James Smith as editor.
