The House of Darkness

The "house" referred to in the title is lunacy which metaphorically is considered as a dwelling. There is some story, but it is slight and, as for ourselves, it left us absolutely cold. Because from the arrangements, stage setting, and the action that went before, it was too plainly shown, at the climax, what the outcome was going to be. There is but little suspense. The photography is without much quality. The players had no real chance, but furnish the offering's sole interest. - The Moving Picture World, May 24, 1913

It's always interesting once in a while to see an old short film, especially one from over a century ago when film was still in relative infancy. It's even more interesting when it has a young Lionel Barrymore in an early role far removed from his villain and cantankerous roles and direction by DW Griffith at a relatively early stage of his extensive career in quite a prolific year for him. Not to mention the very interesting and quite bold for the time subject matter.

'1913's 'The House of Darkness' is not one of Griffith's best short films, it's no 'The Mothering Heart' or 'The Musketeers of Pig Alley'. Also don't consider it one of his best overall. But it is a laudable effort and really admired and appreciated its good intentions with its message and how it dealt with a subject matter not covered a lot in film at this very early stage of film-making. So not anything to rave about and didn't love it, but this subject is not easy to tackle and it was done pretty well.

Sure, 'The House of Darkness' is very melodramatic and it does go very overboard on it later on to the point of plain silliness.

Did think too story-wise it is very slight and felt over-stretched.

'The House of Darkness' though does have a lot that is worth recommending. The acting has strong presence without coming over as stagy, melodramatic yes but it was appropriate for the story. Barrymore commands the screen with no problem and Lillian Gish always made her films better and while her role is not massive she's lovely to watch. 'The House of Darkness' is very sincere and hits hard, the message is not too heavy handed and while everything with the music is not exactly accurate its role in the story was handled compassionately.

Also thought that what 'The House of Darkness' has to say about mental illness was quite thought-provoking and generally affecting. Griffith directs adeptly and with great technical skill and the photography is nicely crafted, beautifully framed and not primitive.

Not great but definitely worth seeing. 7/10.

Or: "How the mind of an unfortunate was brought to reason by music." The unfortunates subtitled are the mentally ill, who are taken care of in a nice-looking insane asylum. Claire McDowell (a Nurse) and Lionel Barrymore (a Doctor) work at the asylum; they fall in love, and get married. Later, inmate Charles Hill Mailes (a Lunatic) loses it, cops a gun from Alfred Paget (a Guard) , and escapes. Mr. Hill Mailes is not without a redeeming quality, however; he enjoys music, played on piano by nurses McDowell and Lillian Gish (another Nurse). Director D.W. Griffith's storytelling strengths make "The House of Darkness" quite an enjoyable early film.

****** The House of Darkness (5/10/13) D.W. Griffith ~ Charles Hill Mailes, Claire McDowell, Lionel Barrymore

Seven stars. A silent film about music therapy! That's a big quirky plus, right there. This works because Charles Mailes sells his character so well. Silent film was all about expression, and Mailes nailed it at a level that made title cards irrelevent. And it was good fun to watch this middle-aged guy beating the crap out of the young orderlies that he caught off-guard. I'm going through the Years of Discovery discs, and that's led me to notice what a great actress Claire McDowell was as well. She's prominent in a lot of these films, including this one. And she does a splendid job of playing out a really tense and troubling scene with Mailes. That's what makes the picture worth watching. Barrymore and Gish, for all that I love them, and for all their general greatness, really don't do much here. Something else worth note is that Griffith was really maturing as an editor by this point. The snap cuts are sharp, and keep the tension building all the way to the resolution. This is worth watching for any fan of the movies. 8 February 2024.

We are introduced to some mentally ill people who are acting out. One is a depressed woman. The other is a man who exhibits violent behavior when he is bothered. Of course, there's only one response: lock them up. The man gets away and enters the house of a nurse. She has a piano that she plays. It seems that whenever the piano plays, he changes his violent behavior. Meanwhile the police are running in all directions to try to capture him. They look ridiculous. Apparently, Griffith just liked to get little slices of life on film. Not much here but an experiment. Although two big name stars were in evidence: Lionel Barrymore and Lillian Gish.