Those Awful Hats

I, personally, believe in common human decency, and in order to be a human of decency I believe that you shouldn't start a whole fuss when going to a film in the theater. However, right in front of me while I was watching this film, there was a woman in the theater wearing a ridiculously large hat! My complaint about this caused a whole string of events that kept me from properly viewing the film!

What I DID see of the film, however, was quite interesting and experimental. Definitely impressive for such an old film! The film actually included some wildly creative special effects and can be used as an early example of more satirical cinema.

8/10 for the film...1/10 for the time I had watching the film.

The name of D.W Griffith holds a special significance in cinema. Some of the greatest motion picture legends have paid tribute to his pioneering film-making, including John Ford and Orson Welles. Notably, Charles Chaplin once described Griffith as "The Teacher Of Us All." The director's unending praise is certainly not undeserved, his most revered films including the controversial 'The Birth of a Nation (1915),' 'Intolerance (1916),' 'Broken Blossoms (1919),' 'Way Down East (1920)' and 'Orphans of the Storm (1921),' many of which I have yet to have the pleasure of seeing. Surprisingly, Griffith didn't start his movie career in directing at all. After he failed in his bid to become a playwright, the young man became an actor, finally discovering his niche in film directing.

However, before he started producing his spectacular feature-length epics, Griffith was a very prolific director of short films. Between 1908 and 1913, Griffith worked for the Biograph Company, producing a mammoth 450 films in the space of only six years, sometimes averaging a rate of two or three in a week. These Biographs allowed the young director to polish his film-making skills, experimenting with revolutionary techniques – such as cross-cutting, camera movement and close-ups – that would later become commonplace in practically every movie that followed. As we move through Griffith's early works, we watch as his short films slowly become more and more elaborate and ambitious. 'Those Awful Hats (1909)' is one of early shorts, and was really meant as nothing more than an amusing three-minute comedic skit to precede a film screening and remind the women in the audience to remove their head-wear.

The film is basically played out in a single take, with an audience of attentive cinema-goers seated comfortably in a movie theatre. Using a process known as the Dunning-Pomeroy Matte process, Griffith was able to split the frame into two sections, splicing the film-within-a-film onto the same screen. With the audience members seated peacefully, their film enjoyment is suddenly disrupted when a lady wearing an elaborate hat seats herself in the front row, blocking everybody else's view of the screen. There are gestures of protest, but the women is evidently completely oblivious, and the male audience members become further exasperated as several more women take their places at the front of the theatre, each wearing a more sophisticated piece of head-wear than the last. The scene turns into an enjoyable farce when a large steel contraption lowers from the ceiling to confiscate the troublesome hats, the machine inadvertently taking one of the women to the ceiling with it.

Aside from the historical significance of its being an early Griffith Biograph, there is nothing particularly phenomenal about 'Those Awful Hats.' However, it does effectively display the director's unique creative vision, proving – if his later films left you in any doubt – that the genius' mind does house a healthy sense of humour.

I wonder if this was a major problem a long time ago. I'll bet it was. I am referring to the subject matter of this early and very short D.W. Griffith film: rude people wearing big hats to the theater and blocking the view of those in back of them.

Considering that people have probably been inconsiderate for as long as humans have inhabited the planet, this might have been a problem. Since people haven't word big hats in a generation or two, a lot of people don't remember "big hat days." Whatever, it makes for an amusing little film with a unique suggestion to dealing with the problem! If people were slow to get the message, the director put in print at the end.

The special-effects aren't exactly state-of-the-art for today's audiences but I bet they shocked the film-goers 99 years ago, when this was seen.

those awful hats has a surprisingly funny and witty plot, despite it's short lenght and real purpose. the film serves as an experiment for griffith, who tries out new and interesting things, succeeding brilliantly, i think. the early trick with 'film on film', what we call the blue screen technique today, works well for it's time. i'm curious about the restoring process, and overall about griffith, i have no sufficient info to give an in depth analysis, i just have to count on what i see on the screen. the bucket works nicely. i would be certainly interested to learn more about the making of this short.

surprisingly good, really. i don't know anything about film technology, so this from a guy who just likes films; 7/10

the first griffith film i saw, more to be seen in the weeks to come.

Early film short directed by D.W. Griffith; it might be more accurately called a "short short" at barely three minutes. It is entertaining, though. The director is saying, "Ladies, please remove your hats!" Why? Because you can't match a movie when some woman parks herself in front of your seat, and leaves her HUGE hat on.

There are some early silent film stars in attendance - obviously Flora Finch, Linda Arvidson, and Florence Laurence. Mack Sennett is the man with the finny nose and the checkered suit. The men are not easy to identify, with their backs turned; but, that must be Robert Harron in the lower right of your screen, going crazy over "Those Awful Hats".

The film really MOVES… all the time, there is movement ALL OVER the screen. Ms. Arvidson recalled, in her autobiography, "How many times that scene was rehearsed and taken! It grew so late and we were all so sleepy that we stopped counting. But pay for overtime evolved from this picture."

***** Those Awful Hats (1/25/09) D.W. Griffith ~ Flora Finch, Mack Sennett, Robert Harron, Linda Arvidson