Suspense

A well made thriller and admirable directorial work from Lois Weber, considered America's first female director. In ten well paced minutes one can feel the dread, the ominous air of tragedy awaiting innocence and vulnerability as the chase for survival races to a final conclusion. As with films this old it's truly the glimpse into the distant past that adds to the appeal and allure of these marvellous relics that have survived the ravages of time. These moving images of a bygone time are truly a time machine that give one a view into how people looked, dressed and lived so long ago. Living up to its title, "Suspense" is one of the successful shorts and a wonderful example of the magic of film.

Carl Laemmle of IMP and several smaller film studios banded together in 1912 to create a movie distribution firm called The Universal Moving Picture Company. One of Universal's first movies the new corporation distributed was Rex Motion Picture Company's July 1913 "Suspense." Written, acted and directed by Lois Weber, one of the most creative forces in early cinema, "Suspense" has its narrative threads similar to D. W. Griffith's "The Lonely Villa (1909)" and "An Unseen Enemy (1912)." What makes "Suspense" unique is Weber's cinematography and editing that forged new camera techniques.

Despite claims she invented the three-split-screen--that goes to Denmark's 1910 "The White Slave Trade"-- she did come up with the first "triangular" there-split screen, showing three events occurring at once: the hobo breaking into an isolated house, the mother, played by Weber, who is talking with the husband from that house, and the husband at work. Another novel camera placement was an overhead shot of the hobo approaching the house and looking up at the mother, who is on the second floor.

Once the husband realizes his wife is in danger, he steals a car in front of his shop and races on home, only to followed by a squad of police. Weber uses the camera, situated in the husband's vehicle, to frame him driving as well as to capture the approach of the police in the sideview mirror. Absolute genius.

Weber wasn't the first female director in cinema. That distinction goes to Alice Guy-Blanche. But she did amass quite a reputation as a filmmaker. She explains: "I grew up in a business when everybody was so busy learning their particular branch of the new industry, that no one had time to notice whether or not a woman was gaining a foothold."

"Suspense" would put Weber in the same aesthetic level with Griffith, according to some. Witnessing the innovativeness she exhibits in this 1913 film, it's hard to dispute the claim.

As the title may give away this film is a very early example of the suspense thriller. In it a woman is terrorised by a malevolent tramp. He stalks her while she is trapped helplessly in her house with her child. Her husband rushes to the rescue with the police in hot pursuit of him for stealing a car to race home.

It's a tight and well constructed film. It has very well paced editing that alternates from the scene in the house and the high speed car chase. It's shot with some skill too, with some inventive shots. There is a dynamic action shot taken from a moving car, including some stylish shots of the pursuers in the rear view mirror. Given the primitive equipment in those days this is pretty impressive. It also makes great use of the triptych split-screen effect which allows us to see three separate scenes simultaneously, conveying a lot of information simultaneously. This is one of the first examples of this technique. The feel of the film is a good combination of fast action and a brooding menace.

The main creative force behind all of this is Lois Weber, who also starred as the woman in distress. There are hardly any women film directors nowadays - which seems pretty outrageously sexist – Lois Weber was one of the very first though, so can be considered an important pioneer. Although, her gender aside, this remains a good film for its time.

Lois Weber was one of the most interesting filmmakers of the 1910s and early 1920s, and despite being one of the most successful directors during that period, she is now largely neglected in the history books and by many silent film enthusiasts. This film of hers "Suspense" is only one of seven I've seen available on home video (as of yet). In 1996, Anthony Slide ("Lois Weber: The Director Who Lost Her Way in History") said that only a dozen or so of her films survive, which according to IMDb is out of the 132 pictures she directed. Regardless, it's a shame that such features of hers as "Discontent", "The Dumb Girl of Portici", "Shoes" (all 1916), "To Please One Woman" (1920) and "What's Worth While?" (1921) which exist aren't more accessible. It's no consolation that the films of many of Weber's contemporaries suffer worse fates.

Weber specialized in producing social-problem dramas, or message films. "Suspense", however, is the only film of hers that I've seen which did not sermonize. It's a straightforward entry in the genre of last-minute rescue, action-suspense pictures made especially popular in the Nickelodeon age by D.W. Griffith, with such one-reelers as "The Lonely Villa" (1909), "The Lonedale Operator" (1911), "An Unseen Enemy" and "The Girl and Her Trust" (both 1912). Kevin Brownlow said that "Suspense" more specifically took from and one-upped the plot of Griffith's "A Woman Scorned" (1911). Indeed, the editing of "Suspense" is as fluid as in any of Griffith's short films, and Weber uses some novel camera perspectives that Griffith and his cinematographer Billy Bitzer never had.

"Suspense" isn't quite as fast paced as Griffith's last-minute rescue films, or probably as hectic as the Keystone parodies of them, such as "The Bangville Police" and "Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life" (both 1913). I roughly counted 46 shots in "Suspense", which would be approximately just fewer than five shots per minute or 15.5 feet of film per shot. On the other hand, Griffith's "An Unseen Enemy", with about 119 shots, has approximately seven shots per minute or an average shot length of 8.4 feet. Even Griffith's earlier picture "The Lonely Villa" I counted to have about six shots per minute. Some of my numbers might be a bit off, but they give you a general idea: Weber's film is slower than Griffith's films. This isn't a weakness, though; the somewhat not as fast pace allows for a different tension over whether the husband speeding in a stolen car and chased by police will rescue his wife before the slowly approaching tramp reaches her, and it allows more time to capture the advanced viewpoints of Weber's camera. Moreover, the crosscutting, matching and rapid succession of shots is excellent.

"Suspense" is a surprisingly advanced film for 1913, especially in regards to the camera angles. The oft-mentioned triptych shots had already been used in the Danish "The White Slave Trade" films (Den hvide slavehandel) (1910)--also for telephone conversations. The shot of the tramp where he approaches and passes nearby the camera for a close-up while climbing the staircase was borrowed from Griffith's "The Musketeers of Pig Alley" (1912). More original perspectives in "Suspense" include the overhead angles and mirror reflections. Overhead angles are employed when the tramp enters the home, such as one point-of-view shot from the perspective of the housewife (played by the director) looking down from a window, which menacingly catches the tramp looking back at her and thus the camera. A mirror shot in the bedroom shows the wife's reflection in frame before she enters it. Rearview mirror reflections show the police approaching the stolen car of the husband as he races home. Clearly, Weber thoughtfully considered and executed the perspectives of her camera views, as relating to the characters or the audience, and the connectivity and rhythm of the shots placed together. Quite exceptional for a generic one-reel plot.

Looking through keyhole for the first time in cinema history? Servant, apparently bored in the "lonesome place", picks up and leaves, leaving the wife and infant child home alone. Hobo, lurking outside, sees the servant leaving and breaks into home.

Prism in centre of the frame, with man in it, talking to wife on telephone, in upper left corner, hobo sneaking in house in upper right corner. Later, man in centre of prism, wifey in upper left, hobo sneaking into house in top right as he cuts the phone line. He chops down and punches down the door, while wifey frantically calls hubby to come to the rescue.

Noticeably filmed out of doors, as wind picks up and blows paperwork off desk, several early uses of mirror reflections, all to good effect. Good trick shot of a guy being hit by a car during pursuit.