1908 - The Adventures of Dollie

It's not even noon and I'm exhausted.  I really have been working hard at getting school done this year, and it's paying off, but I'm just tired already.  I'm reading James Fenimore Cooper's mind-numbing classic The Last of the Mohicans, and Robert A. Heinlein's Libertarian sci-fi classic The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and several other short works for various classics.  But I'm glad I finally got to my next film D.W. Griffith's directorial debut The Adventures of Dollie.  D.W. was the revolutionary filmmaker who brought us the epic and ground-breaking uber-racist The Birth of a Nation some years later.  There's no doubting his impact on cinema and it shows here even in his first film.  

This film follows a man, a woman, and a little girl on a day out when the latter is kidnapped after a brief altercation with a thieving gypsy.  It's really quite terrifying.  She's grabbed and stuffed in a barrel which is nailed shut and tossed in the river where it eventually makes its way back to her parents.  The film is engaging in a way that many were lacking at the time.  Griffith has a knack for bringing the narrative to life with his pioneering editing style and camera work.  I can't wait to get to more of his work including the offensive yet undeniably important The Birth of a Nation with its offensive black stereotypes and its Ku Klux Klan heroes.  It's an interesting time to look at and a fascinating piece in the history of our country.   

Well, back to the Mohicans.  I can't wait til I get to the last of that book...get it?  See you in 1909!