Criminal

• Director: Reginald Barker
• Release Year: 1916

Plot

The title to this film is a misnomer since there's no real criminal in the story. Naneta (Clara Williams) is an illegitimate girl who is shunned in the Italian village where she lives. An old man, a former resident of the town, gives her the money to sail to America, where she works as the drudge in a restaurant located in New York City's Little Italy. There she meets Donald White (William Desmond), an aspiring writer. One evening she finds a baby abandoned in the home where she's boarding and takes it in. However, there have been a rash of kidnappings in the area, and the cops become suspicious of Naneta. Since she is sensitive about her own illegitimacy, she won't reveal the child's origins. But White makes her confess, and she also divulges her own questionable origins. None of this matters to the writer, who offers to marry her and adopt the baby. Williams, a capable enough actress, had some trouble carrying off this picture because it contained so much padding -- it was basically a three-reel picture spread out over five reels. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Credit

Reginald Barker - Director

mr criminal	the rich get richer and the poor get prison ideology class and criminal justice by jeffrey reiman