The plot of the Thanhouser production streamlined the actual story to portray the film over the course of a single reel.

Unfortunately the person to whom he was compelled to sell is the slave owner of the other sort, brutal, heartless, and a hard master - Simon Legree.

But Uncle Tom cannot resist a mother's pleading, and when Eliza entreats him to give her back her child he does so and aids her to escape with him.

Terribly overcome by the cold and faint from exposure, Eliza is carried unconscious to the home of Senator Bird of Ohio.

"[2] During his journey, while waiting for a Mississippi steamboat, Uncle Tom first meets little Eva, who with her father is also taking the boat south.

While looking at the boats, the little one accidentally falls into the swiftly flowing river and escapes drowning only through the bravery of Uncle Tom.

Just before he dies he presses to his lips the locket with the picture of his beloved little girl and in a vision sees her in the clouds holding out her arms to him that he, too, may enter with her the pearly gates, inside of which all souls are equal, and all free.

[2] Marie Eline would also play this role in the five-reel World Film Corporation version of Uncle Tom's Cabin, released on August 10, 1914.

[9] Surviving film stills, from advertisements in Moving Picture World, show Crane in blackface in order to portray the part of Uncle Tom.

Vitagraph had previously released multi-reel works, but a three reel drama was considered a bold innovation by The New York Dramatic Mirror.

"[14] This is actually an erroneous reference to the three reel Vitagraph version by Edwin Thanhouser that was published in The Moving Picture World on March 10, 1917.

[18] A third 1910 adaptation, also named Uncle Tom's Cabin, release by Pathé is cited in The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film.

The Mirror commended the film for the clever adaptation which preserved coherency in the story, the good acting and adequate costuming despite a few flaws in the production.

[2] The Moving Picture News was more positive in its review, praising the photography and the sensible adaptation of the book to the film format.

In contrast to the fault found in the Mirror, one of the reviewers specifically praised the ice scene by stating, "This part of the picture seems to have been conceived and carried out with extraordinary realism.