Griffith was not the only director on staff at Biograph. By 1910, his work was getting popular, even if only industry insiders knew who he was. The word was out: Biographs sold tickets. Ship more. Comedies would be nice.
But after turning out more than 150 movies in 1909, Griffith wanted to produce longer works using more involved techniques, so he set Frank Powell and Mack Sennett up in their own unit, and supervised.... whatever that meant. Here's one directed by Powell.
Or at least it would be if it wasn't scrambled. Even reading the plot description, it seems odd and out of sequence. I believe what happened was that the movie was shot out of sequence -- Griffith had been doing that since the previous year -- and then printed onto paper for the Copyright Office requirements of the time without editing. So, as it exists, it's a mess on the Library of Congress' National Screening Room site.
It is nice to see Mary Pickford playing opposite her sister. It would be even nicer if some one assembled this in the correct order.
But after turning out more than 150 movies in 1909, Griffith wanted to produce longer works using more involved techniques, so he set Frank Powell and Mack Sennett up in their own unit, and supervised.... whatever that meant. Here's one directed by Powell.
Or at least it would be if it wasn't scrambled. Even reading the plot description, it seems odd and out of sequence. I believe what happened was that the movie was shot out of sequence -- Griffith had been doing that since the previous year -- and then printed onto paper for the Copyright Office requirements of the time without editing. So, as it exists, it's a mess on the Library of Congress' National Screening Room site.
It is nice to see Mary Pickford playing opposite her sister. It would be even nicer if some one assembled this in the correct order.
