The Eternal Grind (1916)

Louise Pickford is a sewingmachine girl in a sweatshop in New York City She lives together with her sisters Amy Loretta Blake and Jane Dorothy West and are all deprived by bad conditions at work and sickness Louise tries for the three of them to survive and regards herself as the keeper of her sisters Meanwhile she stands up to her bosses and complains about the dreadful circumstances they work in When Amy is seduced by the son of the shopowner Louise butts in and stops the romance He eventually abandons Amy and becomes seriously injured in a cavein Louise has a secret crush on the son herself and tries to rescue him hoping he will admit he loves her The film is inspired by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire which took place in 1911 The only version of the film is a nitrate print in the Cinematheque Francaise but only the first half remains