Smilin' Through 1922

Smilin' Through

1922 · United States · Directed by Sidney Franklin · 96 min

RomanticBleak Approachable · Moderate Romantic melodrama

An old grief shapes a guardian’s response when the young woman he raised falls in love with a man connected to the past.

What to expect

The film turns repeated faces and relationships into a structure where one generation’s romantic wound threatens to determine another’s future.

How to ease in

Separate the older love story from the younger one, then notice the deliberate echoes. The repetition is the point: memory is acting like a rule until someone refuses it.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes grief, gun violence, death, controlling guardianship, illness, and sentimental period conventions.
Momo's Note May contain spoilers Who is Momo? →

An old grief shapes a guardian’s response when the young woman he raised falls in love with a man connected to the past.

The title promises endurance, but smiling can also become a way of carrying pain without changing it. I wait for the younger couple to discover which inheritance they can reject.

Open the note ↓

The title promises endurance, but smiling can also become a way of carrying pain without changing it. I wait for the younger couple to discover which inheritance they can reject.

— Momo

Momo with notes about this film

Credits & versions

Version map

Wikidata 96-minute listing96 min96 minutes reproduces the single duration stated by the source. The listing does not identify a cut, score, territory, frame rate, source element, or restoration.Runtime reference · Checked 2026-08-22

Where to go next

Want a gentler, shorter, or stranger next film? Ask Momo for something like this →
Momo is on shift. Visit Momo Cinema →

Continue through the catalogue →