D.W. Griffith
1875 - 1948On the Reef
D. W. Griffith
Verner Clarges, Gladys Egan
Grace Wallace was the only child of a widow of decidedly meager means. Mr. Rupert Howland, a widower of considerable wealth, the father of a girl child, and an old friend of the family, often surreptitiously helped them. He dearly loved the young girl, but it was only at the death-bed of Mrs. Wallace that he really showed it. The poor woman at the point of death realized the helplessness of those she was leaving behind, her own aged parents and her daughter Grace. To assure their future she begged Grace to marry their dear friend, and Grace, touched by the man's goodness and her mother's condition, consented. Not content with the promise, she asked that the marriage take place at once by her bedside, and the wish was granted. Poor Grace struggled hard to love the dear old man, but while she admired and respected him, and was profoundly grateful for his kindness, she could not love him.
On the Reef
His Last Burglary
D. W. Griffith
Henry B. Walthall, Dorothy Bernard
Mired in poverty and no longer able to endure the hardships that this situation brings upon their baby, a young man chooses, with his wife, to give up the child by abandoning it in a rich household. A burglar who himself has just lost a child, breaks into this house and decides to ease the mourning of his wife by stealing the abandoned baby. Soon after, the young man and his wife receive word of their sudden fortune. They then try to find their child, but their search is in vain. Faced with the desperation of his wife, the young man calls a doctor whose coachman is none other than the burglar, since reformed. When the burglar learns the cause of the young woman’s misery, he realizes the gravity of his crime and convinces his wife that they must return the baby to its parents.
His Last Burglary
Italian Blood
D. W. Griffith
Charles West, Vivian Prescott
In the little Italian home the wife feels she is neglected and apparently it seems that her husband's love is growing cold, for he has become decidedly indifferent. She, therefore, plans with her cousin to arouse his love through jealousy. At an Italian picnic, after repeated vain efforts to draw her husband's attentions toward her, she starts off with her cousin, passing in view of her husband. His fiery nature is violently aroused with jealousy, and rushing home in a towering rage, would have wreaked disaster to the entire family, for his terrible suspicion poisons his mind even against his two little children. He learns the truth, however, and realizes now to what extreme the result of his neglect would have driven him.
Italian Blood
A Salutary Lesson
D. W. Griffith
Charles West, Stephanie Longfellow
During a stay at beach resort Mr. and Mrs. Randall neglect their daughter and follow their own interests. Mrs. Randall entertains the local minister, while Mr. Randall agrees to take his daughter on a walk along the beach. However, he is attracted by a flirtatious young woman, and the little girl wanders off on her own. She clambers onto a seaside rock where she falls asleep, unmindful of the incoming tide. Her parents at last notice her absence and begin searching for her. However, the incoming tide has by this time surrounded her rock, cutting her off from land. A lifeguard hears her cries and swims to the rescue just as the rising tide is about to engulf her. The child is returned to her parents, who receive from their near tragedy a salutary lesson in the importance of being more careful parents.
A Salutary Lesson
Two Little Waifs
D. W. Griffith
Grace Henderson, Verner Clarges
Mrs. Weston’s child dies and she mourns her loss. Meanwhile, two young girls are placed in an orphanage after their mother dies. They escape to search for her in Heaven, and arrive at Mrs. Weston’s house. She decides to adopt them.
Two Little Waifs
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
D. W. Griffith
Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
The Tramp and the Dictator
Kevin Brownlow, Michael Kloft
Kenneth Branagh, Walter Bernstein
A look at the parallel lives of Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler and how they crossed with the creation of the film “The Great Dictator,” released in 1940.
The Tramp and the Dictator
Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies
Nicholas Eliopoulos
Michael York, Mary Pickford
This documentary traces the life and work of the legendary "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford, silent film star, movie pioneer and keen businesswoman. Pickford's life also parallels an even larger story, telling of the birth of the cinema itself.
Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies
Two Daughters of Eve
D. W. Griffith
Lillian Gish
Calumny is one of the most despicable crimes against our neighbor, and while the wife in this story acted conventionally, she nevertheless maligned the other woman simply because of her profession, an actress. While out on a shopping tour, the wife and her husband enter a store, leaving their little child in the auto in the care of the chauffeur. This gentleman pays but scant attention to the child, so the little one wanders off and strolls into the stage door of a theater during the matinee. The parents upon their return to the auto discover the child's absence and trace him to the theater stage, where they find him in the arms of one of the show girls. The mother matches the child from the girl's arms, scornfully exclaiming, "How dare you contaminate my child with your touch?" For this remark, together with the derisive laughter it occasions, the girl vows to be avenged.
Two Daughters of Eve
Orphans of the Storm
D. W. Griffith
Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish
France, on the eve of the French Revolution. Henriette and Louise have been raised together as sisters. When the plague that takes their parents' lives causes Louise's blindness, they decide to travel to Paris in search of a cure, but they separate when a lustful aristocrat crosses their path.
Orphans of the Storm
The Mother and the Law
D. W. Griffith
Mae Marsh, Robert Harron
After the relatively low box office takings of 'Intolerance', D. W. Griffith would revisit his epic film three years later by releasing two of the film's interlocking stories as standalone features, with some new additional footage. The second of these was 'The Mother and the Law', which demonstrates how crime, moral puritanism, and conflicts between ruthless capitalists and striking workers help ruin the lives of marginal Americans.
The Mother and the Law
