Shoes

Shoes is a social-problem drama directed by Lois Weber, one of the most important women directors of the silent era. Mary MacLaren stars as Eva Meyer, a young shopgirl who works in a five-and-dime store to support her destitute family. When her worn-out shoes finally fall apart and she cannot afford new ones, she faces an agonizing moral dilemma. Weber's film is a powerful indictment of poverty and the exploitation of working women, made with a realism and sensitivity that was unusual for its time. The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2014. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.