The Soul of Youth

A social-problem silent directed by William Desmond Taylor and based on the work of Denver juvenile-court judge Ben Lindsey, who appears as himself. Lewis Sargent plays a boy born to an unmarried mother and raised through brutal orphanages and the streets until Judge Lindsey's court places him with a kindly family, where he is given a chance at a real childhood. The film argues for the then-new juvenile court movement and survives as a testament to Taylor's talent before his infamous 1922 murder. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.