An Unseen Enemy

A pair of young twin sisters are in mourning for their father although they are lifted by the news that their brother, always a savvy businessman, has sold part of the estate and made them a tidy sum. This tidy sum he quickly puts in the family safe – observed only by the sisters and their slattern housekeeper. The housekeeper decides she wants this money and gets an unscrupulous acquaintance to rob the safe while she holds the girls at gunpoint through a hole in the wall (hence she is the unseen enemy). Luckily the girls are resourceful enough to use the phone to call for help and soon it is on the way – but will they get there in time?

Having seen this described as a masterpiece by another IMDb user, I was curious about the film and decided to look it up. It was interesting to me to see that it was one of the first films from Lillian Gish and also that it had been directed by DW Griffith and I was curious how it would be. As is often the way with silent shorts, the plot is simple and in this case it is mostly a dramatic scenario where the girls are in danger and help is on the way. This is fine but mostly it doesn't work that well because the delivery is rather inconsistent. The scenario is part of the problem because the drunken hand through the wall device is odd to say the least – the girls are sort of in danger but not really and if anything it looks a bit silly; this takes away from the dramatic side. Similarly the rush to help them is at once dramatic and with lots of concerned gurning but then throws in a Keystone Cops-lite moment where they get stuck on a rotating bridge. Accordingly the musical score is uneven too as it tries to take account of the various moods.

The performances are OK but of course of note are the Gish sisters – like Griffiths himself I don't know which is which, but the stronger performance came from the bravery of the two sisters. Otherwise the most noteworthy performance comes from Elmer Booth due to his intense overacting when he learns of the girl's plight! That said, it is an OK short film that delivers on the simple scenario – it is just very uneven and had me wishing that it had a bit more about it to increase the dramatic tension and thus my engagement in the short.

The quality in which Biograph pictures most excel is the atmosphere of individuality that surrounds each player, making him or her distinct from all others. In no other make of picture is it so marked. There is much of it in this very effective release, but not as much as usual. The object of the picture is to create a feeling of dread and the means it uses is to place two little girls in a locked room, and put them in danger from an "unseen enemy" in the adjoining room. This enemy is a drunken maid, who, with another rough character, is bent on blowing up a safe. There is a hole in the wall made for a stove pipe and the woman can thrust her arm through this and shoot, but she can't see to aim, because the hole is too small. Her purpose is to keep the children from using the telephone. But it lies on the floor where the eldest girl had dropped it and the sound of the shots is more eloquent to bring help than words. The little girls are charming; they are not yet actresses, but in a good place to learn acting. The photography in many scenes is not up to standard. - The Moving Picture World, September 21, 1912

It's hard for me to be objective about the merits of this particular Biograph short because my first viewing of it was such a memorable experience: I was fortunate enough to see D.W. Griffith's An Unseen Enemy in the presence of one of its featured players, Miss Lillian Gish. Perhaps I should add that the two of us had some company, in fact there were several thousand others present, as well. Over a period of several days in March of 1987 four famous silent feature films were shown at Radio City Music Hall in NYC, each accompanied by a full orchestra conducted by Carl Davis, and each introduced by someone associated with the production in some way. Two of John Gilbert's movies were introduced by his daughter, Leatrice Gilbert Fountain; Douglas Fairbanks Jr. introduced his father's classic The Thief of Baghdad; and the magnificent drama The Wind was introduced by its star, 93 year-old Lillian Gish, who was greeted rapturously with a roaring standing ovation.

First, however, we were treated to a short film. An Unseen Enemy marked the premiere screen appearances of Lillian and Dorothy Gish in featured roles -- that is, after a stint as crowd extras in another short, which in effect served as their screen test. The very first image we see is a shot of these two beautiful girls, still in their teens, portraying sisters who are in mourning for their recently deceased father. We note right away that Lillian's grave, mesmerizing beauty is already in full bloom, and that both girls seem perfectly natural and at ease on camera. The film's plot is rudimentary, and easily conveyed with a minimum of title cards: the girls have inherited a small sum of money, which is deposited in a safe in their home by their brother who then leaves for work. Unfortunately, the sisters have been left in the care of a low-life housekeeper, who promptly goes after the money. Meanwhile we meet Dorothy's boyfriend Bobby, who is about to leave for college but is unhappy that Dorothy is too shy to give him a farewell kiss. Before long, the wicked housekeeper has enlisted the help of an equally disreputable partner, who sets about cracking the safe while she locks the girls in a small room and keeps them covered with a pistol, which she points through a stove port in the wall. The girls' brother, summoned by a frantic phone call, commandeers an automobile and races to the scene, but it's Bobby who manages to save the day, and earn that postponed kiss from Dorothy.

The race to the rescue was already a Griffith specialty by the time this film was made, but while there are other Biograph shorts that offer more elaborate and exciting versions of the device, the brief chase in An Unseen Enemy is well-edited and effectively suspenseful. The most memorable image from this film is the rather bizarre sight of Lillian and Dorothy being kept at bay by that pistol, held by a gloved hand sticking through a hole in the wall. The girls cower in a corner for an extended period although it appears from the way the scene was staged that the woman holding the gun could not possibly see them. When I saw this movie at Radio City the audience viewed it with respectful interest, generally speaking, but I have to admit this sequence generated some unintended laughter, as did the title card identifying the housekeeper as "the slattern maid."

When Miss Gish stepped out onto the stage, moments after this short drama had ended, she made only a couple of cursory remarks about it and then quickly turned to discussing Victor Sjöström's The Wind, which she told us she considered a great film. It surely is, but for viewers interested in Gish's and Grifith's early work An Unseen Enemy is well worth viewing in its own right, allowing for its simple technique and modest production values. This is a well-constructed and interesting short, and the fact that it showcases the Gish sisters at the dawn of their film careers is reason enough to see it.

Lillian and Dorothy Gish made their film debuts in An Unseen Enemy (1912), one of the best of DW Griffith's short film work.

The two women show their acting chops here as two terrified teenagers cornered by villains. Their performances are not as refined as those they would give in the future, but the power and effectiveness of their pantomime and body movements forecast that well.

I'm not the biggest fan of Griffith's features, but his shorts are amazing. He packs a lot of suspense and melodrama into one reel. The editing and pacing of these films dash the impression of early film as exclusively slow-moving and crude, an impression given off by early feature films such as the nightmarish and dull Queen ELizabeth (1912), starring theater legend Sarah Bernhardt.

An essential for movie buffs and lovers of cinematic history.

Great early film short, directed superbly by D.W. Griffith. In it, Lillian and Dorothy Gish play sisters (is that ever inspired casting?) terrorized by a wicked housekeeper and her male companion. They have the Gish sisters locked in a room, and terrorized them by firing a gun through a hole in the wall. It doesn't sound like much, but the direction makes in exciting (there is a race to rescue them after they are able to make a phone call).

Lillian and Dorothy Gish look extraordinary on film, together, in "An Unseen Enemy"; though, the situation more than a little implausible. Still, the Gish sisters are radiant. Also noteworthy are the scenes with Robert Harron which open and close the drama, earning him a Kiss from Dorothy Gish. The three of them are natural actors, which Griffith (and audiences) could plainly see in this film. Great photography.

D.W. Griffith, Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Robert Harron, and G.W. Bitzer - making the screen magical in "An Unseen Enemy"...

********* An Unseen Enemy (9/9/12) D.W. Griffith ~ Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Robert Harron, Elmer Booth