Spottiswood Aitken Movies

This innovative psychological drama represents one of D.W. Griffith's early full-length feature films and contains innovations that influenced international filmmakers, particularly German ones, for decades to come. It tells the tale of a young man with a fondness for reading Edgar Allen Poe, who is forced to choose between having his uncle's wealth and marrying the girl he loves. He makes a choice and she jilts him, causing him to vent his rage and pain psychotically by strangling his uncle and sealing his corpse behind a brick fireplace wall. As in Poe's Telltale Heart, the young man's cruelty does not go unpunished, and as he sits alone in his cabin, he begins hearing the maddening beat of his dead uncle's heart. Every sound, to the poor youth, becomes another damning thump, and in desperation he runs from his cabin to hang himself. Just before he dies, the law catches up and saves him. Meanwhile, his cruel girl friend is overcome by guilt and so hurls herself from a cliff, but fortunately, this is not the end of the story. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Home Sweet Home has been referred to by its leading lady Lillian Gish as "the first all-star film." Indeed, virtually every member of director D.W.Griffith's celebrated stock company appears in this three-part, five-reel biographical drama. Based on the life of John Howard Payne, composer of the "world-famous" title song, the film stars Henry B. Walthall as Payne, herein depicted as a brilliant but unstable artist who never found the happiness embodied in his songs. As incidents in Payne's life are enacted on the screen -- his early failures, his success as a playwright in England and as a composer in France, and his lonely, embittered final years in Africa -- these scenes are counterpointed with three "sub-stories," in which the song Home Sweet Home is shown to have a profound effect on several different people. In Episode One, a western miner (Robert Harron) nearly leaves his waitress sweetheart Mae Marsh), but they are reunited to the strains of the Payne song. In Episode Two, the song causes a faithless wife (Blanche Sweet) to renounce her lover (Owen Moore) and return to her husband (Courtenay Foote). And in the final episode, two quarrelling brothers (Donald Crisp and James Kirkwood) kill each other, leaving their grieving mother to find solace in the familiar strains of Home Sweet Home. Though Lillian Gish also spoke respectfully of her artistic collaborations with D.W. Griffith, even she found the film's final scene -- in which, dressed as Heavenly angel, she rescues John Howard Payne from the bowels of Hell -- a bit difficult to watch with a straight face. This silly denouement aside, Home Sweet Home, a joint effort of the Reliance and Mutual film companies, was quite wonderful entertainment, and one of the most successful of Griffith's pre-Birth of a Nation endeavors. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The most successful and artistically advanced film of its time, The Birth of a Nation has also sparked protests, riots, and divisiveness since its first release. The film tells the story of the Civil War and its aftermath, as seen through the eyes of two families. The Stonemans hail from the North, the Camerons from the South. When war breaks out, the Stonemans cast their lot with the Union, while the Camerons are loyal to Dixie. After the war, Ben Cameron (Henry B. Walthall), distressed that his beloved south is now under the rule of blacks and carpetbaggers, organizes several like-minded Southerners into a secret vigilante group called the Ku Klux Klan. When Cameron's beloved younger sister Flora (Mae Marsh) leaps to her death rather than surrender to the lustful advances of renegade slave Gus (Walter Long), the Klan wages war on the new Northern-inspired government and ultimately restores "order" to the South. In the original prints, Griffith suggested that the black population be shipped to Liberia, citing Abraham Lincoln as the inspiration for this ethnic cleansing. Showings of Birth of a Nation were picketed and boycotted from the start, and as recently as 1995, Turner Classic Movies cancelled a showing of a restored print in the wake of the racial tensions around the O.J. Simpson trial verdict. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sometime during the shooting of the landmark The Birth of a Nation, filmmaker D.W. Griffith probably wondered how he could top himself. In 1916, he showed how, with the awesome Intolerance. The film began humbly enough as a medium-budget feature entitled The Mother and the Law, wherein the lives of a poor but happily married couple are disrupted by the misguided interference of a "social reform" group. A series of unfortunate circumstances culminates in the husband's being sentenced to the gallows, a fate averted by a nick-of-time rescue engineered by his wife. In the wake of the protests attending the racist content of The Birth of a Nation, Griffith wanted to demonstrate the dangers of intolerance. The Mother and the Law filled the bill to some extent, but it just wasn't "big" enough to suit his purposes. Thus, using The Mother and the Law as merely the base of the film, Griffith added three more plotlines and expanded his cinematic thesis to epic proportions. The four separate stories of Intolerance are symbolically linked by Lillian Gish as the Woman Who Rocks the Cradle ("uniter of the here and hereafter"). The "Modern Story" is essentially The Mother and the Law; the "French Story" details the persecution of the Huguenots by Catherine de Medici (Josephine Crowell); the "Biblical Story" relates the last days of Jesus Christ (Howard Gaye); and the "Babylonian Story" concerns the defeat of King Belshazzar (Alfred Paget) by the hordes of Cyrus the Persian (George Siegmann).

Rather than being related chronologically, the four stories are told in parallel fashion, slowly at first, and then with increasing rapidity. The action in the film's final two reels leaps back and forth in time between Babylon, Calvary, 15th century France, and contemporary California. Described by one historian as "the only film fugue," Intolerance baffled many filmgoers of 1916 -- and, indeed, it is still an exhausting, overwhelming experience, even for audiences accustomed to the split-second cutting and multilayered montage sequences popularized by Sergei Eisenstein, Orson Welles, Jean-Luc Godard, Joel Schumacher, and MTV. On a pure entertainment level, the Babylonian sequences are the most effective, played out against one of the largest, most elaborate exterior sets ever built for a single film. The most memorable character in this sequence is "The Mountain Girl," played by star on the rise Constance Talmadge; when the Babylonian scenes were re-released as a separate feature in 1919, Talmadge's tragic death scene was altered to accommodate a happily-ever-after denouement. Other superb performances are delivered by Mae Marsh and Robert Harron in the Modern Story, and by Eugene Pallette and Margery Wilson in the French Story. Remarkably sophisticated in some scenes, appallingly naïve in others, Intolerance is a mixed bag dramatically, but one cannot deny that it is also a work of cinematic genius. The film did poorly upon its first release, not so much because its continuity was difficult to follow as because it preached a gospel of tolerance and pacifism to a nation preparing to enter World War I. Currently available prints of Intolerance run anywhere from 178 to 208 minutes; while it may be rough sledding at times, it remains essential viewing for any serious student of film technique. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Unlike most "preparedness" films of the WWI era, Flying Torpedo sidesteps preaching in favor of non-stop action. With California in imminent danger of enemy invasion, the American government commissions a noted inventor to develop a flying torpedo. Unfortunately, the inventor's plans and prototype are stolen by international racketeers. Racing against time, master detective Winthrop Clavering (John Emerson) retrieves the prototype and begins arming the California seacoast against hostile attack. Co-director Christy Cabanne expertly emulated his mentor D.W. Griffith in the spectacular invasion-and-repulsion climax. Actor-director-writer John Emerson had previously essayed his heroic "Winthrop Clavering" character in the stage play The Conspiracy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Americano is Douglas Fairbanks Sr., the son of a wealthy mining engineer. Sent by his dad to oversee a mine in South America, he falls in love with Alma Rubens, the daughter of a deposed below-the-border president. With Fairbanks' help, the kindly ex-leader is restored to his former position and the insurgents are sent scurrying back to the hills. Even after eight decades, The Americano retains its exuberant entertainment value; the only drawback is the distressing presence of white actor Tom Wilson in blackface as the traditional "scared darkey". The film was adapted by its director John Emerson and his wife Anita Loos from a novel by Eugene P. Lyle Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Perhaps one of Mary Pickford's lesser works, this film was nevertheless a funny, extremely well-produced comedy about a socialite who, having lost her fortune, takes a job as a Swedish cook. She falls in love with a chauffeur (Casson Ferguson) who, lo and behold, is a slumming millionaire. Written by Pickford regular Frances Marion, How Could You, Jean? was based on a turn-of-the-century novel by Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd. Interestingly, in 1930 Norwegian writer Sigrid Boo penned a highly successful novel bearing almost the identical plot, Vi som går kjøkkenveien ("We Who Enter Through the Kitchen"). Boo's "original," which had already been filmed in Norway and Sweden, was turned into a star vehicle for Janet Gaynor by Fox in 1934 under the title Servants' Entrance. Apparently, the old Pickford comedy was already forgotten, and no copyright infringement suit was filed. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Priscilla Dean has impressive support from Lon Chaney in this crime drama. Mary Stevens (Dean) is a thief of the slums. She is loved by Stoop (Chaney), a hoodlum. Mary happens on a society reception and makes off with a pearl necklace which has been dropped by Adele Hoyt (Gertrude Astor). She hides in the home of Kent Mortimer (Willington Playter), and finds out that he is the one who had given the necklace to Adele. Mary falls in love with the handsome Mortimer and resolves to go straight. She goes to work as a waitress and later on encounters Kent, who is broke because he has spent all his money on Adele only to have her cast him off. Stoop discovers Mary's involvement with Mortimer and shoots him in the arm. He then tries to steal the necklace from Mary, but she gets it back and confesses her past to Mortimer. He is shocked at first, but he comes to realize that Mary is a far more worthwhile human being than Adele ever was. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

In this Pollyanna-ish story, Lila Lee plays Mary Lenox, who is orphaned when her parents die during a cholera epidemic in India. Archibald Craven (Spottiswoode Aitken) is appointed her guardian, and she is sent to England to live with him. Craven is a crotchety old man who has never been the same since his wife died in childbirth. His son, Colin (Dick Rosson), is a cripple -- or at least, that's what Craven's doctor brother, Warren days. But the doctor is trying to drive Colin to an early grave, figuring that when both Archibald and his son die, he'll wind up with the family fortune. When Mary brings her sunny self to this situation, she stirs things up. First she convinces Colin that he's better off without the heavy brace his uncle is making him wear, then she talks the help into opening up the walled-in garden that has been sealed since the death of Mrs. Craven. The doctor, seeing that Colin is beginning to thrive, decides to poison him -but both Mary and Colin see him put the poison in the drinking water. Mary goes for help, but gets stuck in a bog. Colin saves her, and the doctor, his plans thwarted, takes off. Craven becomes a whole lot less crotchety and Colin enters the British army and weds Mary. This picture was based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Lord Angus Cameron (H.E. Herbert), a Scottish nobleman, becomes tired of his common-law wife Marion (Mabel Ballin) and tries to deny the marriage. He thinks he can get away with it since the ship on which they were wed has sunk. Alec McClintock (Ralph Graves) comes to help her prove the marriage. The climax of this movie is an underwater fight between McClintock and Cameron, with both antagonists wearing diving suits! Underwater photography was a rare and special event in the days of the silents. A pre-stardom John Gilbert has a supporting role as Dick Beach, McClintock's faithful friend. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Author James Oliver Curwood's tales of the Northwest were made into so many motion pictures that it seems like he alone is responsible for every Mountie cliché that was committed to cinema. Case in point is this picture: Raoul Challoner (Lon Chaney in a rare romantic role) is in love with Nanette Roland (Betty Blythe), but while he is in the North, Buck McDougall (Francis MacDonald) tries to steal her away by claiming that he is dead. Challoner, however, reappears just in time to halt the wedding. Later he gets in a fight with McDougall and one of his cronies; the crony is killed and Challoner and Nanette flee to the North woods. A Mountie, Corporal O'Connor (Lewis Stone), is assigned the task of arresting Challoner, but McDougall gets there first. He tries to kidnap Nanette while Challoner is away, but she is rescued by his pets -- a dog and a bear. A forest fire breaks out and Corporal O'Connor saves Nanette, but leaves McDougall behind to burn to death. Instead of getting his man, O'Connor tells Challoner that he will tell his superiors that he died in the fire, thus leaving him to go free. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

The still-unsolved murder of William Desmond Taylor has tended to overshadow Taylor's considerable talent as a director. One of his best efforts was Beyond, adapted from a play by Henry Arthur Jones. Anticipating My Favorite Wife (1940) by nineteen years, Ethel Clayton plays a woman who is shipwrecked on an island for a year. Upon her return to civilization, Clayton discovers that her fiance has married someone else. This bogy turns out to be a blessing, inasmuch as she is now free to wed the man she truly loves. Adding an extra dimension to Beyond is a supernatural subplot, wherein the ghost of Clayton's late mother exerts a powerful influence over the proceedings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide