D.W. GRIFFITH: BIRTH OF A VIEW - A retrospective of Griffith's early works @ Ponrepo, Prague 15/10/2015

THE ADVENTURES OF DOLLIE is relatively uninteresting, but one can already note two aspects that would define his cinema in time to come. The use of momentum as a build up of tension, with the barrel relentlessly floating down the riverway, and a most unfortunate cartoonish stereotypical representation of gypsies.

From then on, he moved to Hollywood and made an average of one short film a week. Watching them one after the other, one really gets a sense of the evolution of the filmmaker and a growing maturity in his sensibilities. For GRIFFITH is indeed a man defined by sharp contrasts. His portrayals of human struggles are very true and the balance of melodrama and realism in the best of his works is disarmingly powerful. Nevertheless, his upbringing in a family of the Old South, and his resentment for his family's poverty, for which he blamed everything the South opposed, led him to the controversial aspects that unfortunately he is best remembered for to this day.

This legacy of course is mostly due to America's first blockbuster, THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915). A gigantic production that romanticises the KU KLUX KLAN. An exciting, adventurous monolithic epic with exceptional battle sequences and a legitimate sentimental side that is nevertheless heavily marked by representation of black men as unintelligent and sexually aggressive towards white women. 

Following the success of THE BIRTH OF A NATION, however, something changed in the director's ways. He seemed to have recognised his faults, and given the protests which the film inspired even at the time, his future films seemed to exist not just as masterpieces of their times, arts and craft but also as a way for him to cleanse his reputation and fix his legacy.

This, however, together with the birth of talkies, led to a harsh but inevitable downfall in popularity that led him to a state of absolute poverty and loneliness, in which he would die in 1948.

There are many aspects of his history which life and works that will forever be discussed. But without getting ahead of ourselves and sticking to the centrepiece of this ADVENTURE IN THE SILENT FILM WORLD feature, Prague's PONREPO (the cinema of the CZECH FILM ARCHIVE) has held a focus of the American filmmaker's works the last month, and one such event was the screening of original film copies (in excellent conditions) of seven of his works, the earliest being from 1909 and the oldest being from 1913.

The reviews are presented in the sequence in which the films were screened, in the hope to raise awareness of the power of the works of this great filmmaker, and to inspire people to  re-discover these gems and vouch for their safekeeping and survival.

THE NARROW ROAD (1912)

Greeted by his faithful wife with open loving arms, a man just out of prison seems determined to walk the straight and narrow. But a man who spent time in jail with him attempts to lure him into dangerous counterfeiting activities. 

THE NARROW ROAD is defined by a very simple storyline, not in fact the most exciting in these prolific times by GRIFFITH, that deals with one of the filmmaker's pet concernes - common people struggling with their conscience and dealing with a crime. 

While the simple narrative is mostly unimpressive, one can still greatly admire a mastered use of narrative cross-editing that boosts the short with an emotive energy. This is particularly true of the juxtaposition of the husband's temptation and the concern of the wife at home, worried she might lose her beloved again at the hands of the law. 

THE NARROW ROAD features the legendary MARY PICKFORD as the wife, but it is ELMER BOOTH in the role of the husband who steals the show and seems to be a great precursor in both presence and mannerism to the role of the criminal in later films to come.

THE OLD ACTOR (1912)

GRIFFITH's representation of realism would often also aim to tell the story of older people. In THE OLD ACTOR, the titular character is an old man who loses his part in the theatre production because of his age, and instead of taking it in his stride, he decides to turn the world into his stage and act as a beggar. 

The starting concept of THE OLD ACTOR is ingenious, but feels widely rushed and misused. At this point it is only fair to point at the fact that around this time, GRIFFITH was making an avarage of one or two films a week for BIOGRAPH, and that therefore not all his films could probably be developed to their highest standards. Therefore, here, the plot seems a little sketchy and relies on too many melodramatic convetions. 

Nevertheless, as with the vast majority of the filmmaker's shorts at this time, there is still a lot to be admired. Namely, the representation of acting as a legitimate profession shows GRIFFITH's respect for performing arts and provides a great starting point for a touching portrayal of vulnerable pride, masculinity and the cruel and harsh awakening to the struggles of old age.

DEATH'S MARATHON (1913)

By 1913, it is safe to say that GRIFFITH was extremely comfortable in his craft and his filmmaking. Therefore, he could afford to step out of his comfort zone, and turn his two reelers into incredible films in which he could pack plenty of emotive significance and action packed sequences. 

DEATH'S MARATHON starts as a love rivalry between business partners, develops into an examination of vice inspired by "monotony of married life", and culminated in a race against time as a guilt ridden husband communicates to his wife and friend that he will be committing suicide. 

At little over 17 minutes in length, this film keeps its many plot twists together with compactness and credibility. In the end, GRIFFITH also allows the viewer to imagine future outcomes through a somewhat tongue in cheek ending. The centre piece of the chase shows off the filmmaker's masterful handling of action sequences, which would define his masterworks and that is particularly admired in the legendary, breathtaking final sequence of INTOLERANCE. 

But on top of this, one gets a feeling of growing awareness of camerawork, which had previously relied upon single shot set ups and a stillness that highlighted stark realism. 

DEATH'S MARATHON also features the pivotal teaming up of two GRIFFITH regulars, WALTER MILLER and HENRY B. WILTHALL, who raise the bar with exceptional performances. Underrated, needs to be re-discovered.

BRUTALITY (1912)

GRIFFITH turns his attention to domestic violence in his 1912 short BRUTALITY. Here, he tells the story of a newlywed couple. The wife, played by an excellent MAE MARSH, fails to notice the alarm bells pointing to her beloved's anger and violent outbursts, and once locked in marriage, she becomes the victim to this abuse. 

The performances in BRUTALITY are excellent. WALTER MILLER is always a powerful presence, and his versatility is clearly shown as he plays the double role ala Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the form of loving husband disturbed by remorseless and incontrollable violent fits. 

In the end, however, GRIFFITH fits one of his driving inspirations and elements - the power of the arts - into his film's ending as the man experiences an awakening during a theatre show. 

While one can absolutely admire MILLER's responses to the actions on stage as they happen, the ending is far too quick, too sudden and because of the lengthy build up to the portrayal of the titular brutality, it doesn't seem to give a satisfactory resolve.

A CORNER IN WHEAT (1909)

Arguably the greatest artistic achievement of GRIFFITH's whole short film era, a most daring and social reflection that possibly single handedly stood to show the world that he was not a director like any other. It's hard to overestimate the power of this film, and in which everything good that GRIFFITH stood for worked. 

It follows the impact of a greedy tycoon to corner the world wheat market trade, and the resulting destruction of the common classes who can no longer afford to buy bread. It is an unblinking portrayal of social realism and one of the most impactful and important films of its time. 

Coated in disarming realism, GRIFFITH shows all his majesty as an artist as well as a storyteller who never forgot his roots, not just through the chronicling of his story, but also via a series of more famous poetic sequences, such as the breathtaking one in which he shows a scene in a bakery in which the players stand in complete stillness. 

In A CORNER IN WHEAT, one can admire the cross-narrative editing, that juxtaposes scenes of unscrupulous tycoons and wall street wolves with moments of sheer poverty, such as a touching moment in which a man returns to his wife and daughter and only has empty hands to show them. 

This film predates similar features, such as the collision montage, that would become associated with Soviet Cinema, a feat that is rarely talked about when mentioning the works of D.W. GRIFFITH.

THE HOUSE WITH CLOSED SHUTTERS (1910)

As noted by many, the American Civil War, particularly viewed from the perspective of the South, provided great inspiration for the works of D.W. GRIFFITH. Such is the case of THE HOUSE WITH CLOSED SHUTTERS, a film with a strange and yet powerful plot that shows a more imaginative but ultimately tragic side to the storytelling of the filmmaker. 

Here, a man sets off to the fight in the war only to returns to his home a drunk and a coward soon after. In order to protect his pride, his loving sister sets off in his place to complete his task, and disguised as her brother she discovers a passion and audaciousness that leads to her death on the battlefield as she tries to recover a Southern flag - a powerful imagery representing an ultimate heroic sacrifice. 

In this film, GRIFFITH seems to ditch his more realistic nature for a more abstract, fable like plot line that ridicules cowardice but also remarkably seems to pay tribute to the female gender. This stands to show that GRIFFITH had great admiration for the female gender, and it is a point of argument that while men are often childish, vulnerable and all too prone to mistakes, women are often portrayed as noble creatures. 

THE HOUSE WITH CLOSED SHUTTERS also features an abrupt and chilling ending that seems to point at its fundamentally gothic roots. Given the fact that this film was made in 1910, one can't help but feel that it predated many other similar stories of films that would follow. Once again, this shows how everything, or most of everything, can in one way or another be traced back to GRIFFITH - even things that one would not even suspect.

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