Themes: Death of a Parent, Mothers and Sons, Sibling Relationships
Main Cast: Richard Barthelmess, Gladys Hulette, Walter P. Lewis, Ernest Torrence, Ralph Yearsley
Release Year: 1921
Country: US
Run Time: 79 minutes
Plot
Richard Barthelmess stars in this classic silent melodrama as David Kinemon, the youngest son of a family living in a small West Virginia town. While sweet and good-natured, David is not noted for his mature behavior, and his youthful overenthusiasm causes his mother to tell him, "You're not quite a man yet -- you're only tol'able." But David is forced to grow up and face responsibilities when a family of outlaws -- Iscah Hatburn (Walter P. Lewis) and his sons Luke (Ernest Torrence) and Little Buzzard (Ralph Yearsley) -- move into town and begin terrorizing the community. The Hatburns' reckless violence causes the death of David's father Hunter (Edmund Gurney) and cripples his brother Alex (Warner Richmond); David is suddenly the head of the family, and he's forced to support his mother and his siblings, take over Alex's mail route, and protect the town from the wrath of the Hatburn Family. Tol'able David was remade as a talkie in 1930 (with Richard Cromwell in the title role), and a clip from the original movie appeared in the classic horror film The Tingler (which is set in part in a theater specializing in silent movies). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Forrest Robinson - Grandpa Hatburn; Lawrence Eddinger - Sen. Gault; Edmund Gurney - Father; Warner P. Richmond - Allen Kinemon; Marion Abbott - David's Mother; Harry Hallam - The Doctor; Patterson Dial - Rose Kinemon; Lassie the Dog - Racket, the dog
A major box office success, the acclaimed film was voted a Photoplay Magazine 1921 "medal of honor" and is seen by critics and viewers as one of the classics of silent film.
In 2007, Tol'able David was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Young David Kinemon, son of West Virginiatenant farmers, longs to be treated like a man by his family and neighbors, especially Esther Hatburn, the pretty girl who lives with her grandfather on a nearby farm. However, he is continually reminded that he is still a boy, "tol'able" enough, but no man.
He eventually gets a chance to prove himself when outlaw Iscah Hatburn and his sons Luke and "Little Buzzard," distant cousins of the Kinemon's Hatburn neighbors, move into the Hatburn farm, against the will of Esther and her grandfather. Esther initially tells David not to interfere, saying he's no match for her cousins. Later, the cousins kill David's pet dog and cripple his older brother while the latter is delivering mail and taking passengers to town in his "hack" wagon. David's father sets out to administer vigilante justice on the Hatburn cousins (the sherriff doesn't have the means to deal with the outlaws himself), but has a heart attack. David is determined to go after the Hatburns in his father's place, but his mother talks him out of it, arguing that with his father dead and brother crippled, the household, including his brother's wife and infant son, depends on him. The family is then turned out of the farm and are forced to move into a small house in town. David asks for his brother's old job of driving the hack but is told he is too young. He does find work at the general store though. Later, when the hack's regular driver is fired for drunkenness, David finally has a chance to drive the hack. He loses the mailbag near the Hatburn farm, where it is found by Luke. David goes to the Hatburn farm to demand the mailbag. He is refused and gets into an argument with the cousins, during which he is shot in the arm. David then shoots Iscah and the younger son and later, after a prolonged fight with the older brother (meant to recall the story of David and Goliath), emerges victorious. Esther flees for help and makes it to the village, telling that David has been killed. As a crowd prepares to go look for David, he although injured, arrives in the hack with the bag of mail. It is clear to all that David, no longer merely "tol'able," is a real man and a hero.
Other adaptations
Harold Lloyd's The Kid Brother (1927) was a highly-regarded comedy film that used a similar plot, and also featured Tol'able David actor Ralph Yearsley. Lloyd said in later years that it was his favourite of his own films.
