With a title like THE GIRLS AND DADDY, you would probably expect a heartwarming, gooey family film and not a home invasion flick with racist overtones, but here we are.
THE GIRLS AND DADDY is about two teenage girls left home alone who find themselves at the mercy of two burglars, one white and one black. The white one is moved by their fresh innocence and ceases his attempted robbery. The black one (played in blackface) is not so swayed and seems to have more than burglary on the brain, in the usual DW Griffith villain fashion.
The fine details of the story are unclear from the surviving print. I had to consult the short's entry in The Griffith Project to see what I missed-- apparently the girls are reaching out to their grandmother to help their impoverished father. The money coveted by the crooks was from the grandmother.
Visually, the film has some striking moments. Rather than cross-cutting between the villains and would-be victims, Griffith keeps all the action in single frames. The one moment that stands out involves the teen girls hiding behind a door while the black burglar tries breaking it down. Rather than cutting from one side of the door to the other, both are kept in frame, creating a split screen effect.
Historically-- both as a document of early cinema and as a snapshot of the casual racism of the era-- THE GIRLS AND DADDY is fascinating, but it's certainly no masterpiece. But if you're a student of film history, definitely check it out.
THE GIRLS AND DADDY is about two teenage girls left home alone who find themselves at the mercy of two burglars, one white and one black. The white one is moved by their fresh innocence and ceases his attempted robbery. The black one (played in blackface) is not so swayed and seems to have more than burglary on the brain, in the usual DW Griffith villain fashion.
The fine details of the story are unclear from the surviving print. I had to consult the short's entry in The Griffith Project to see what I missed-- apparently the girls are reaching out to their grandmother to help their impoverished father. The money coveted by the crooks was from the grandmother.
Visually, the film has some striking moments. Rather than cross-cutting between the villains and would-be victims, Griffith keeps all the action in single frames. The one moment that stands out involves the teen girls hiding behind a door while the black burglar tries breaking it down. Rather than cutting from one side of the door to the other, both are kept in frame, creating a split screen effect.
Historically-- both as a document of early cinema and as a snapshot of the casual racism of the era-- THE GIRLS AND DADDY is fascinating, but it's certainly no masterpiece. But if you're a student of film history, definitely check it out.