Elmer Booth and pal Charles Gorman commit yet another crime, and adopted brother Robert Harron turns them over to the police. Then they escape from prison, vowing vengeance.
It's Christy Cabanne's third movie as director, and D.W. Griffith is credited as the co-director. What does that mean in this context, when Griffith was supervising all of Biograph's production? Did he direct part of the movie and Cabanne the rest? Did he retake some scenes, or did Cabanne? Did Cabanne act as second unit director before the term was coined? Did their bosses decide that it looked better for the trade papers if Griffith was credited as director?
I can't tell anything from looking at the movie. It looks like the standard Biograph product at the time, with fine camerawork and performances. The story is a little corny, but not particularly so for the Victorian-minded Griffith, even if Cabanne was the writer.
There's an almost automatic tendency to downgrade all of Cabanne's efforts, based on his Poverty Row westerns made on non-existent budgets thirty years later. However, well into the sound era, whenever he was given any money, or even a good actor down on his luck, he could turn out something interesting.
It's Christy Cabanne's third movie as director, and D.W. Griffith is credited as the co-director. What does that mean in this context, when Griffith was supervising all of Biograph's production? Did he direct part of the movie and Cabanne the rest? Did he retake some scenes, or did Cabanne? Did Cabanne act as second unit director before the term was coined? Did their bosses decide that it looked better for the trade papers if Griffith was credited as director?
I can't tell anything from looking at the movie. It looks like the standard Biograph product at the time, with fine camerawork and performances. The story is a little corny, but not particularly so for the Victorian-minded Griffith, even if Cabanne was the writer.
There's an almost automatic tendency to downgrade all of Cabanne's efforts, based on his Poverty Row westerns made on non-existent budgets thirty years later. However, well into the sound era, whenever he was given any money, or even a good actor down on his luck, he could turn out something interesting.
