True Heart Susie is one of D.W. Griffith’s “pastoral” films, wherein plot takes second
place to characterization and romance. Lillian Gish plays Susie May Trueheart, who
so loves local boy William Jenkins (Robert Harron) that she secretly finances his
education.
As it stands, the film’s dramatic and heart-tugging value has not diminished,
not even after the passage of nearly eighty years.Read More »
Since much of this film takes place in rural Kentucky, where director D.W. Griffith grew up, it no doubt has many autobiographical touches. Since the setting was so close to his heart, that may be why this simple and winsome picture is one of Griffith’s most charming creations. With complete lack of pretension, it tells the story of John Logan Jr. (Robert Harron), an ambitious young inventor who is determined to be a success. So he heads for the big city to achieve his dream of making a toy frog that actually swims. Not that he hasn’t had opposition — his sweetheart, Jennie Timberlake (Lillian Gish, in a rare showing of her comic ability) and his parents (George Fawcett and Kate Bruce) have done everything they could to make him stay. Although he promises to return in a year’s time, John gets caught up in the temptations of the city, including a flirtation with a spirited young lady (Carol Dempster in her first credited role). Read More »
A lonely young woman lives with her strict father who forbids her to wear make-up. One day at an ice cream social, she meets a young man you seems interested in her. However, unknown to her, he is a burglar who is only interested in breaking into her father’s house. One night she is awakened by a noise. Grabbing a pistol, she enters her father’s downstairs office where she confronts a masked intruder . . . Read More »
Thwarted by his despotic uncle from continuing his love affair, a young man turns to thoughts of murder. Experiencing a series of visions, he sees murder as a normal course of events in life and kills his uncle. Tortured by his conscience, his future sanity is uncertain as he is assailed by nightmarish visions of what he has done.Read More »
Don Druker, Chicago Reader wrote:
One of D.W. Griffith’s most beautiful films, a 1919 tale of the chaste love of a Chinese man (Richard Barthelmess) for the frail daughter (Lillian Gish) of a loutish boxer. It perfectly fuses all the elements of Griffith’s style: tender drama played off against scenes of violence; a rich, operatic sense of character and emotion; and a dreamlike acting style, given particular force by the subtlety of Gish’s performance and the strength of Barthelmess’s.Read More »
The Birth of a Nation – 1915
(from imdb)
Two brothers, Phil and Ted Stoneman, visit their friends in Piedmont, South Carolina: the family Cameron. This friendship is affected by the Civil War, as the Stonemans and the Camerons must join up opposite armies. The consequences of the War in their lives are shown in connection to major historical events, like the development of the Civil War itself, Lincoln’s assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.Read More »
Art Cinema Corporation production; distributed by United Artists Corporation. / Produced by Joseph M. Schenck. Screenplay by Sam Taylor, with dialogue by George Scarborough, from the short story “La Paiva” by Karl Gustav Vollmoeller. Set design by William Cameron Menzies. Costume design by Alice O’Neill. Theme song “Where Is the Song of Songs for Me?” by Irving Berlin. Cinematography by Karl Struss. Assistant cameraman, G.W. Bitzer. Intertitles by Gerrit Lloyd. Edited by James Smith. Music arrangement by Hugo Riesenfeld. Presented by Joseph M. Schenck. / © 4 February 1929 [LP79]. Premiered 22 January 1929 at the United Artists Theatre in Los Angeles, California. General release, 16 February 1929. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.37:1 format. Movietone sound-on-film sound system. / A silent version of the film was also released in eight reels at 7495 feet. / Silent film, with talking sequences, synchronized music and sound effects.Read More »