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The Cry of the Children is a 1912 American silent short drama film directed by George Nichols for the Thanhouser Company. The production, based on the poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning about child labor, stars Marie Eline, Ethel Wright, and James Cruze. At the time of its release, the film proved to be controversial for its use of real-life footage of children working inside a large textile factory. The film in 2011 was selected into preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".