Deceived Slumming Party

Edward Dillon leads a bunch of tourists on a tour of Chinatown's dread sights. These include an opium den and a sausage shop where they toss live dogs, cats, and the occasional tourist into the hopper to be ground up in this very early film directed by D. W. Griffith.

It's all a flim-flam to mulct the unwary, including a variation of the 'automatic sausage machine.' As Griffith's sixth movie, you might think you'll see some sign of genius, but it was only a couple of weeks since his first movie as director had come out. It is indistinguishable from anything directed from his predecessors. The actors - including Griffith - are dressed up as stage rubes, the acting is of the hand waving variety, and the camera is placed in the center of the front row. It's a frantic, frenetic comedy. It would be months before he began to institute reforms,

It may not mean anything to you now, but this film is one of the first to have a full shot of two characters. Unbelievable. You don't watch the 33 year old Griffith's early films because you enjoy them, you watch them to see how cinema and editing developed.