Watch His Trust Fulfilled

D. W. Griffith's loose sequel to HIS TRUST features George the "negro servant" who, after looking after the widow and daughter of his slain Confederate master in the first film, is now called upon to look after the girl when her mother dies. George's sacrifices to place the girl in a loving home and anonymously pay for her care and schooling out of his own savings mirror other stories with a Victorian bent, from Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations" to Charles Chaplin's masterpiece, CITY LIGHTS. Prejudice and eventual respect form the guiding theme of such tales and HIS TRUST FULFILLED is no exception. Paradoxically, no actual African-American actors appear in the film, as George is played in blackface. - Marilyn Ferdinand