The Fight for Freedom

A very early Western for Biograph, actually more of a crude, and unusually violent, melodrama in a Western setting. This 1908 film is often credited to D.W. Griffith, and at least one writer has based part of an essay on that assumption. The American Film Institute regards "The Fight for Freedom" as questionable for Griffith. It came out three days after "The Adventures of Dollie," his acknowledged first film, and just three more before the next one credited to him, "The Tavern-Keeper's Daughter." It was not unusual for Biograph directors to work this quickly, but Griffth was just getting started. He may have helped write this film, but perhaps it was one of the last titles directed by Wallace McCutcheon Jr., rather than one of the first by Griffith; McCutcheon Jr. also acts in this film. In at least one other instance, McCutcheon Jr. and Griffith are shown to have directed a Biograph short together, and that could be the case here.

I've just realized the significant quality that Griffith brought to film-making: editing. Prior to this point, French and European cinema were happy to just screen a film as it was shot. What Griffith did with this film was to edit it and give it a three-dimensional quality.