D.W. Griffith at The Biograph Company

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A Drunkard's Reformation, 1909 Arthur Johnson, Linda Arvidson, Adelle De Garde -click video excerpt-

Within a year, the NEW YORK TIMES would be the first major daily to run a film review in their pages.

The first film was PIPPA PASSES, ironically another Griffith film for Biograph. Once again, there were no credits for anyone who was associated with its production.

The active mind of Frank Woods was the first person to critically review a moving picture.

Companies soon took notice of them and made attempts to improve the quality of their productions.

This emergence of newspaper advertising and critical reviews was a milestone as it raised moving pictures in the public's esteem to the level of a worthwhile form of entertainment.

As the lower and upper classes finally began to share an interest in the medium, the age of the nickelodeon started to be a passing event with better designed movie parlors (and later, theatres) now taking form.

His first film, THE ADVENTURES OF DOLLIE, will be the blueprint Griffith will develop and improve upon and we will see the emergence of his craft from the start of his first production. Many were the productions that were ground out at an astonishing rate.

Stories ranged from the pedantic to the brilliant, centering around the era that was growing out of the Age of Innocence. In each of these films, there was some experiment, however insignificant. A light effect that enhanced the setting and mood of a living room. A group of men on horses galloping down the road, after a pan shot revealed the road. Any small touch like this made a film remarkable for this period of time.

The TRACKING SHOT, the CLOSE UP, the HIGH ANGLE, the FLASHBACK, the INSERT; SPECIAL LIGHTING EFFECTS, MASKING SCENES, FADES and DISSOLVES. The whole gamut was there but nobody was picking up the tools with which to create. As of yet, there was no one who knew how.

His cameraman, Billy Bitzer, would arrive at some of these effects either independently or on occasion, accidentally. At other time, effects would be taken, whether consciously or unconsciously, from the productions of other directors, American as well as European.

Griffith would use his tools with intelligence and sometimes genius; the Griffith method was taking on a shape. From the studio base of operations at the Biograph Co., Griffith took his cast and crew out of the set; he continuously broadened his selection of locations.

He took his stories to Little Falls, Fort Lee, Cliffside, Atlantic Highlands, Coytsville, Shadyside and Hoboken; all in New Jersey, as well as Sound Beach, Conn.   His stories were a menage of mystery, drama, love, hate, family life, love relationships, mountain and western adventures and comedies.

By the third, fourth and fifth shows, such films as AN UNSEEN ENEMY, THE MUSKETEERS OF PIG ALLEY, THE BATTLE OF ELDERBUSH GULCH and JUDITH OF BETHULIA will be the backdrops.