The Woman in His House (1920)

Hilda, a fisherman's daughter, and Philip Emerson, a noted physician, fall in love and marry, but the doctor soon becomes increasingly involved in his medical work, neglecting Hilda and their young son Philip, Jr. He then leaves her in the company of his friends, kind Peter and philandering Robert. When an epidemic of infantile paralysis breaks out, taking up even more of the doctor's time, his own son contracts the disease, and by all appearances dies from it. Heartbroken, Hilda collapses. However, the doctor discovers that the boy is in fact alive, although paralyzed. Believing that Hilda would be even more disturbed to know this, he hides the boy in his laboratory and works on trying to cure him, but cannot. Peter finally reunites Hilda with her son, and her presence and the miracle of motherly love succeed where science has failed: the boy is cured and walks toward his mother.