We start this second part with more Griffith...shoot me.
I'm a theatre major, as you should know from the title of this blog, so I know Shakespeare pretty well. I've seen and been a part of numerous productions of his plays including Macbeth, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, A Winter's Tale, As You Like It, and of course Midsummer Night's Dream. Now I understand that this was made over 100 years ago but even so the material had been around over 300 years at this point you couldn't think of SOMETHING new to bring the table Griffith? Also the editing was absolutely atrocious. It's one thing for pieces of film to be missing but to cut in extremely weird places for no discernible reason was extremely annoying and lazy on Griffith's part. The only thing that was done kind of okay was Puck's flying and even that was less than stellar. It's just bad.
Next up we finally have a film that was made by someone who isn't freaking D.W. Griffith. Mr. Flip by Gilbert M. Anderson
I'm slightly saddened by this film. I've heard of the greatness of Ben Turpin and this was said to be the first evidence pie-to-the-face comedy in film, so I expected it to be good. By the end of the film I was just confused and not even close to amused. Throughout the entire film this guy fucks with these women and then they mess with him in return. It was meant to be playful but he went around and rubbed their faces and in return he gets stabbed in the ass, electrocuted, and shot in the face with seltzer water...how is that fair? And on top of all of that why would a pie in the face end his shenanigans? We'll never know I guess.
Now the return of J. Stuart Blackton with Princess Nicotine.
I. Don't. Understand. This whole lack of consistency trend is grating on my nerves. I don't understand why the dude was using a magnifying glass to see a fairy that was at least a foot tall. I don't understand why the pipe fairy wasn't burned when she was being lit whilst in said pipe. I don't understand how a seemingly normal person sees a few fairies and is like OH HAI this is TOTES a normal occurrence...puh-lease. I don't understand why the magnifying glass shot was used...when he wasn't using a magnifying glass. I just don't understand.
And now for another installment of Racism 101 by D.W. Griffith with The Red Man's View.
I'm only going to say a few things about this because it really doesn't warrant a full response. The cinematography was good but no amount of pretty shots will help me like this film. The blatant disregard for actual Native American traditions is appalling. I can't...UGH. This is actually worse than Edison's foray into exploitation back in the 1890s. Le sigh.
Griffith...again. The Sealed Room.
I'm giving up...I really am. I thought I could still find redeeming qualities about Griffith's work but no! My main problem with him is not even his random stories or over dramatizations it's the fact that he simply doesn't know or care about the actual world he bases his stories in. The room they were in was about 10 or 12 feet high by about 18 to 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep. At the lowest estimations that is 1800 cubic feet of air. Let's say at most they were breathing 3 cubic feet worth of air per hour...it would take 600 HOURS for them to run out of air...that's 25 days!!! So HOW in the hell did they die in a matter of seconds!? DO YOUR RESEARCH GRIFFITH...UGH WOAVGUJsduhvdsjfnviuhngv[sAHRDVKJDRBGV973wqgrfbco8ubseqign.
Those Awful Hats...Griffith
UM...okay? It was a pre-show message for, i'm assuming, a major problem back then. Instead of turn off your cell phones (or this gem from Texas:
) they had this...I think. That said I liked the movie within a movie thing...meaning the effect was done relatively well. That's about it...it wasn't funny and thankfully it was only 2 minutes.
And finally...ending the decade with A Trap for Santa Claus...this should be interesting.
I won't pass full judgement because it is a fragment but again Griffith lacks complete common sense and has the outdoor scenes in broad daylight...while the indoor scenes were clearly at night. I couldn't even think about what was going on because that bothered me so much. Awesome way to end the decade -_-.
That's it folks. Next post (hopefully Sunday) will kind of be a summary as i'll post my favorite flicks and then next week we'll get into the 1910s! Thanks for reading and stay cool!
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