Scott Lord Silent Film: Blanche Sweet in Judith of Bethulia (D.W. Griffith, Biograph, 1914)

Lillian Gish's autobiographical account of "Judith of Bethulia" (D.W. Griffith at Biograph, 1914) included in her volume The Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me can again be placed in the historiography of film criticism by being a combination of reminiscences and digests of media accounts reflecting her perspective. "The advertisements later announced that 'Judith of Bethulia' was the most expensive film that Biograph ever produced . They went on to exaggerate the number of extras and costliness of the sets, ignoring Mr. Griffith's talent for making much out of little. It is true, however, that 'Judith' was more expensive and took longer to make than any Griffith picture up to that." Presaging the epic spectacle of D.W. Griffith, which quickly arrived within a two year period ,in fact still years before Cecil B. DeMille became proficient at the genre, the film stars one of the first all-star casts including Blanche Sweet in the titular role, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Kate Bruce and Mae Marsh. The cinematographer to the film was G.W. Bitzer.

Scott Lord Silent Film: Sarah Bernhardt in Les Amours de la reine Élisa...

Directing in 1912, Louis Mercatan had filmed stage actresss Sarah Bernhardt for four reels using only long static shots; there are twenty three scenes in the film and of twenty two intertitles, only three are interpolated. Most summarize the dialogue and its consequence to the action untill the exclamation in scene twenty one, “May God forgive you, I never will.” While discussing the advent of sound film and its acceptance by French filmmakers, the periodical Exhibitor's Daily Review abjured its readers that the would be "reminded that Sarah Bernhardt was the first star of the first movie drama ever produced."
A year later, in 1913, D.W. Griffith, having already adopted the practice of making two-reelers, directing the first American four-reel narrative, “Judith of Bethulia”, starring Blanche Sweet. Louis Mercanton directed Sarah Berhardt again duriing 1913, reverting back to a two reel running length with the film "Adrienne Lecourver, An Actress's Romance", the film presently presumed to be lost,with no surviving copies.
All five or six reels of the 1915 film "Jeanne Dore", starring Sarah Bernhardt and written and directed by Louis Mercantan are presumed to be lost. It mas included among many of the Bluebird Photoplays during the company's brief existence during the first decade of the twentieth century.

Greta Garbo is quoted by Sven Broman as having said, "I know that he courted Sarah Bernhardt and wanted to write plays for her...but Strindberg still managed to get Sarah Bernhardt to do a guest performance in Stockholm in La Dame aux Camelias at the Royal Dramatic Theatre. There are reports of surviving existing copies of the one reel 1909 film "La Tosca" starring Sarah Bernhardt and Eudourdo Max. Sara Bernhardt plays herself, as do Sir Basil Zahrof and Maurice Zahrof in the two reel "Sara Bernhardt a Belle Isle" from 1912. "Mothers of France" (1917) would be the last film to feaure the The Divine Woman, Sarah Bernahrdt.



Anne Boleyn Silent Film

Silent Film playlist

Silent Film playlist

Scott Lord Silent Film: Carol Dempster in The Girl Who Stayed Home (D.W. Griffith, 1919)

Directed by D.W.Griffith and photographed by G.W. Bitzer for the Famous Players Lasky Corporation "The Girl Who Stayed at Home" (seven reels) showcased actress Carol Dempster. In their volume The films of D.W. Griffith, Edward Wagenkneckt and Anthony Slide describe the theater transpiring on screen, the theatrical element, by contrasting the loves scenes of each of the two couples; compared to the Seymour-Harron affair, the "Carol Dempster-Richard Barthelmess love affair is strangely tepid; it lacks the joyful emotion of true feeling."

D.W. Griffith and S.E.V. Taylor had adapted the photoplay from an original story Taylor had written.
D. W. Griffith

D.W. Griffith