D.W. Griffith at The Biograph Company

-19-

On the set of Judith of Bethulia, 1918

After the exterior scenes were completed, the shooting of the interiors was begun back in New York, bringing to a face-to-face argument the building animosity between Griffith and the front office.

Griffith's vision of a four-reeler was complicated and the production costs on JUDITH OF BETHULIA would rise to the unheard of figure of $36,000.00

Even before the rumors began, his stock company players knew of the deepseated unhappiness Griffith was feeling. None of them felt that they were a part of Biograph, more a part of the Griffith influence and loyalty.

When word was to become generally known of his impending departure, they all awaited being asked to join him. Even Henry B. Walthall, who had come back to work on JUDITH.

The front office was not just angry and frantic over the cost of the film. Their fury was aggravated by the picture itself; its length and the depiction of the barbaric HOLOFERNS, not to mention the gory beheading scenes.

Rumor had it that Adolph Zukor had tendered an offer to Griffith that was for $50,000.00 per year, and Griffith had turned it down.

D.W. Griffith directing The Battle of the Sexes. Lillian and Dorothy Gish are shown in the center, Donald Crisp and Robert Harron third and fourth from right, 1914

The film industry was not yet a decade old and little had been done to make the products easily accessible to exhibitors. The few film producers who existed at that time simply could not keep up with the demand. While the creative people were still groping to fashion a technique for this crude form of communication, business was stepping in and taking ruthless control.

In the race to keep their nickelodeons filled, owners now had to outbid one another for the newest films. While David Wark Griffith is finally told that another director will be brought in to make their longer productions, Biograph informs him that from now on, he would make only films of one or two reels. The decision to leave is therefore assured....