The Lonedale Operator

Blanche Sweet stars in this film from 1911 by D. W. Griffith made for Biograph. Considering it was made in 1911, and Griffith's techniques weren't quite as advanced, it is very good. However, only a year later, Griffith remade his movie in a 15 minute short for Biograph, and the remake, I have to say, is more refined in techniques. There is essentially more cutting and the pacing is a lot faster (the beginning to this one starts slow). Griffith was probably looking at this film a year later and thinking, "I could've done better. Say, how about doing a remake of this one? And how about a chase towards the end by locomotive?" Thus "The Girl and Her Trust", the aforementioned remake, was filmed.

Now to the comparison. What makes this film not as advanced? Well, no chasing the tramps when they escape with the money. In fact, in here they don't even escape with the money at all. The shots of the interior of the locomotive look cool, but no tracking shot of the outside of the locomotive. That's another memorable thing in the remake. Plenty of cross-cutting, but the tramps peeking through the window bit is not drawn out as long and there isn't as much of that. Griffith was still learning when he made it, but it is still pretty good, and is certainly worthwhile for any Griffith fan. Even though the director became famous for "Birth of a Nation" and "Intolerance", short features like this show how advanced Griffith was with film editing.