The Sowers is a surviving 1916 silent film drama produced by Jesse Lasky, released through Paramount Pictures and directed by William C. deMille. The feature stars Blanche Sweet and Thomas Meighan and is based on the novel, The Sowers by Henry Seton Merriman. It is preserved in the Library of Congress collections.
^ The Sowers at silentera.com
^ The American Film Institute Catalog Feature Films: 1911-20 by The American Film Institute, c.1988
^ Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress page 171 by The American Film Institute, c.1978
The film revolves around a murder mystery. The story takes place in the mid 19th century. A biracial nurse named Roxy (Jane Wolff) swaps her son with her master's son. That son grows up as Tom Driscoll, while the real Tom grows up as the slave known as Chambers. Rowena Cooper comes from the North and falls in love with Chambers. Chambers is accused of murder and the eccentric lawyer Pudd'nhead Wilson looks for details. He uses fingerprints to uncover the real killer, but during his investigation he figures out Chambers and Tom were switched as infants.