Silent Film Sources - Reviews

Now 22 of these films are available on laserdisc from Image Entertainment in a three disc, six side, box set titled D.W. Griffith's Years of Discovery as well as on three tapes from Kino on Video. The laserdisc set is aptly titled, as it was these films where Griffith experimented as a director, exploring and expanding the possibilities of narrative structure and content. Griffith made many good films in that period, and this selection is a good representation of the breadth and quality of Griffith's work. You could easily choose another 50 titles of equal dramatic and historical value. The laserdisc set includes a four page insert with photographs and discussions of each title by Griffith scholar Russell Merritt. 

The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company started in the flip card business ("mutoscopes"), but they shifted to producing dramatic shorts and actualities. Griffith initially joined Biograph as an actor, and in 1908 he shifted to direction. The Biograph years were very productive for Griffith, and the cliche was that in that period he defined the language of cinema. Griffith was called the Dickens of cinema and these films are like short stories, presenting themes that would resurface in Griffith's later, more fully developed works. The films frequently contrast the rich and the poor, with Dickens' narrative complexity, and originality of characterization. 

Griffith began working at Biograph in their studios in a converted mansion on East 14th Street in Manhattan. His troupe filmed rural exteriors throughout the region, including many visits to nearby Cuddebackville, New York, and annual location trips to Los Angeles. Griffith was remarkably prolific, completing shorts at the rate of two per week. The films were usually filmed in a few days, and edited in a few more, but they were clearly produced with much care. 

These films are a big leap from the "primitives" of early cinema, and remain as dramatically effective and entertaining as on their original release. However, several elements distance them from a modern audience. A short film has a slightly different narrative structure. Griffith seldom rushes the narrative, instead telescoping the action to fit within one reel, shortening the story by a title or a narrative device. Griffith even told cameraman Billy Bitzer to crank slower so that he could fit more scenes in the film. The style of photography is different. While Griffith's staging has great depth, it is filmed with a narrow scope. So he can create crowd scenes with relatively few actors (as in The Musketeers of Pig Alley) by stringing them away from the camera, but using a wall or the camera angle to give the illusion of many people in a crowded space. Rooms are generally seen from only one camera position. The intertitles include explanations that telegraph the action to follow, or dialogue spoken in the middle of the next scene. So the title "The Boy Perseveres" does not move the narrative forward, but instead tells you the content of the next scene. The titles serve a different purpose than in later silent films, serving more like chapter headings in a book. 

The films are cast from Griffith's stock company of actors. He liked his players to alternate starring parts with supporting or bit roles. Griffith wasn't making star vehicles, but ensemble pieces for character actors, even if the players are Mary Pickford or the Gish sisters. By the end of the laserdisc set, you have seen the actors so many times that they are old friends. The casts also include Blanche Sweet, Robert Harron, Lionel Barrymore, Mae Marsh, Harry Carey, Donald Crisp, and for me, the real discovery of these films- Dorothy Bernard. 

Griffith's stage experience and understanding of human emotions creates many memorable moments and tremendous emotion is communicated by very small directorial touches. In The Border States, blood on a chair might betray the existence of a wounded soldier. In The Sunbeam, we recognize the loneliness of a spinster when she touches her hand where there is no ring. 

This selection includes films of all genres: Civil War dramas ( His Trust, In the Border States), social commentaries ( A Corner in Wheat, What Shall We Do With Our Old, One is Business, the Other Crime), thrillers ( A Girl and Her Trust, An Unseen Enemy, The Musketeers of Pig Alley), films sympathetic to American Indians ( The Redskin's View), light comedies ( Those Awful Hats, The Sunbeam), stark dramas ( The Female of the Species), and literary adaptations ( The Unchanging Sea). 

For film historians, looking for the first appearance of editing or directorial techniques, all of the films have the opportunity to fascinate. A modern audience is not going to be swayed by storytelling ability, but by subject matter. The films of social commentary offer many surprises, as Griffith shows several sides of an issue but with a consistent point of view. A Corner in Wheat (1909) follows wheat from the field to the trading floor, the speculator who corners the market, his grand lifestyle, and the impact on ordinary people as the price of bread doubles. Finally, on a visit to a granary, the businessman falls into a grain elevator and is smothered by the wheat. There is justice as the speculator, too, reaps what he sowed. 

The Biograph camera usually photographed every object more than a few feet from the lens in sharp focus. This "rule" is broken in A Corner in Wheat. The story is framed by images of a farmer sowing wheat. The focus changes within the shot so that as the farmer comes toward the camera only the foreground remains in focus. ( The Musketeers of Pig Alley also has innovative focus effects). 

What Shall We Do With Our Old follows an elderly man as he is laid off from his job and commits a crime to provide for his ailing wife. One is Business, the Other Crime provides a nice contrast as it allows us to be sympathetic and skeptical of both the rich and poor as the lack of moral values are condemned in the working man, but are a mark of success for the businessman. The Burglar's Dilemma shows the third degree tactics of the police against an innocent man, as a dissolute man believes he has accidentally killed his brother and accepts the opportunity to pin the crime on the coincidental intruder. Another outstanding title is the amazingly psychological drama The Female of the Species. The film is so modern in style that I instinctively wanted to turn up the sound to hear what the characters are saying. 

Remarkably, all of Griffith's work at Biograph apparently survives in some form. The original negatives were donated to the Museum of Modern Art in the 1930s, and many titles were registered for copyright as "paper prints." It is clear that the films in this set have arrived through many different paths. Some of the titles were restored in 1975 for the centennial of Griffith's birth, and were made from the original negatives. Others are from paper prints (with a slight side-to-side rocking motion), and others show evidence of originating from 35mm prints. The image quality of the titles in the collection varies, but on the whole is quite nice. 

The new music scores are excellent. Most of the shorts feature "the Biograph Quartet," an ensemble led by Robert Israel on piano. When the dramatic situation requires (which is often) these manage to be sensitive and touching without crossing the line to maudlin or overemotional. Four shorts have scores by Sydney Jill Lehman, and two are accompanied by Zoran Borisavljevic. The two longest shorts have organ scores: The Mothering Heart by John Muri, and The Battle of Elderbush Gulch by Gaylord Carter. These choices provide sufficient variety that the music styles never become tiresome, and themes are not repeated from film to film. Only Gaylord Carter's score seems out of place, as synchronization of the film to the pre-recorded score required the film to be shown slightly faster than normal, and the score frequently misses the significance of the action on the screen. 

D.W. Griffith's Years of Discovery provides an excellent introduction to the most influential films of cinema's early years. The titles in the set were originally released on three tapes from Kino on Video. Though they are presented in chronological order on the laserdisc set, here is the contents of the VHS tapes. Volume One: Those Awful Hats, The Sealed Room, Corner in Wheat (all 1909), The Unchanging Sea (1910), His Trust (1911), The New York Hat (1912), An Unseen Enemy (1912), The Mothering Heart (1913). Volume Two: The Musketeers of Pig Alley, The Burglar's Dilemma, The Sunbeam, One is Business, the Other Crime, Death's Marathon (all 1912), The Battle of Elderbush Gulch (1913). Volume Three: The Redman's View (1909), In the Border States (1910), What Shall We Do With Our Old? (1910), For His Son (1911), The Female of the Species (1912), The House of Darkness (1913). An additional title, not included in the VHS series is A Girl and Her Trust from the Landmarks of Early Film laserdisc (and soon DVD). The now out-of-print laserdisc The Griffith Biographs from Image Entertainment included four Biographs licensed from the Mary Pickford Company. The shorts included in this 51 minute program were As It Is in Life, An Arcadian Maid and Willful Peggy (all 1910), and The Mender of Nets (1912). (Review © 1997 David Pierce)