User Reviews

During the Civil War, there were many cases of divided loyalties; obviously, many occurred "In the Border States", where North met South by happenstance of geography. From the border, young father Owen Moore goes off to join the Union Army. Shortly, Confederate soldier Henry B. Walthall, separated from his regimen, wanders onto the enemy's property, desperate for water; he finds a supply where the Unionist's young daughter Gladys Egan sits. When the Yankee soldiers track him down, Little Gladys innocently helps the Confederate hide. Later, when he returns to kill her father, the little girl's kindness is remembered. A sweet, small story from director D.W. Griffith. Location footage and humanity are lovingly displayed.

***** In the Border States (6/13/10) D.W. Griffith ~ Henry B. Walthall, Owen Moore, Gladys Egan

"In the Border States" is one of D.W. Griffith's Civil War shorts. Although filmed in the wilds of New Jersey (Delaware Water Gap), from the title the likely intended setting is western Maryland, West Virginia, or eastern Kentucky. A border state would have sent units to both armies but this short features the home of a departing union soldier.

Shortly after he leaves with his regiment an unarmed Condederate arrives at the soldier's house and his youngest daughter (played by Gladys Egan-Mary Pickford has a smaller part as the older daughter) hides him from a Yankee patrol. He tries to kiss her in appreciation but the little girl is too patriotic to allow this. A few days later her wounded father stumbles home pursued by a Confederate patrol. The Confederate she saved is detailed to search the house and he returns the favor by not turning in her father. The little girl again refuses his kiss but they compromise and salute each other.

This is a cute little home front story in the standard silent film style of acting, much more like stage acting than acting for the camera. Some of the scenes are captioned but it is largely unnecessary because you can follow the pantomime without any trouble. Griffith inserts a couple of then revolutionary edits (match cuts) into the film, as actors are going though a door and then coming into the room on the other side. Watch for one of the first continuity problems ever, as a solder with two chevrons on his sleeves goes into the house and in the cut to him from inside he is wearing a uniform with no chevrons.

Griffith manages to incorporate some nice scenery into a couple exterior shots that are staged to take advantage of the scenic background.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

During the 1910s, there were a large number of films made in the US about the Civil War--most likely since the 50th anniversary of its start and finish were being celebrated. I've seen quite a few compared to most people alive today and some of them are pretty good (like this one) and some are incredibly old fashioned and totally ridiculous. I was happy to see that even though the plot here is a bit difficult to imagine actually happening, the film itself isn't so heavy-handed and schmaltzy as many of the day. In fact, the film is pretty low-key and the acting is a bit easier to believe than most--with less wild gesticulating and over-acting than usual. The film is a very simple film about a family living in a Border state that is caught up in the war. In many ways, it's like the old story about the lion and the mouse that pulled the splinter out of the lion's paw--only to later have this act of kindness repaid in kind. While this film WON'T change your life, it's well-made, interesting and gives what looks like a real window into the Civil War.

This is an excellent short drama that leaves a memorable impression of the human side of war, and that makes good points about the conflict between the perceived duty to one's nation and one's higher duty to humanity. The story is about a father who leaves to fight for the Union in the Civil War, while in his absence his family also gets caught up in the terrors of the war. The plot is interesting, eventful, and thought-provoking. Given what the war was like "In The Border States", it is also quite plausible.

Methods of filming at the time were very limited, with each scene using a completely fixed camera field of vision, in which all the actors had to stay for the duration of the scene. Griffith makes up for that at times with some nicely planned shots. There is a good one when the father heads off to join his unit, showing part of the town and its townspeople in the background. There is another good one later, showing a sentry on a hill with a nice view of a river beneath the hill.

This is a fine film to take a look at for those interested in the history of these very old movies.

In the Border States is one of the earlier occasions on which DW Griffith dealt with the Civil War, although unlike so many of his battle films from the Biograph period, this one is less about action and more significant for the acting, characterisation and handling of emotion.

The opening couple of shots are perfect examples of Griffith's economy of expression. There is no opening title to set the scene – all you need is that first shot of the wife, children and younger man in uniform, and you immediately know this is a close-knit family, and the father is a Union officer. The second shot – the army column advancing round the corner, implies that the father will soon have to leave for the battle lines. The following shots of the family's varying reactions are particularly complex and carefully composed. Of extra note is the way Griffith draws our attention to young Gladys Egan by twice placing her in the centre of the frame, putting her in a darker coloured dress and putting her actions slightly out of synch with her sisters. This is a vast improvement on many earlier Griffith shorts, in which many characters tend to look and act the same.

The action sequences are fairly brief. In a chase scene, there is a good selection of location shots, and some tense cross-cutting. There is one moment which looks very jarring to us today, and that is a mismatch between the directions people travel between shots. Charles West leaves one shot left to right, then enters the next frame right to left, which looks a little odd. To confuse things even more, one of the pursuing confederates fires his gun towards screen-right, and we then cut to West dodging the bullet from screen-right, as if he was facing the same way rather than being opposite. It was actually Charlie Chaplin who really addressed this problem of mismatching shots, and you can see the difference when he began directing his own pictures at Keystone.

The culmination of all this is a by-now familiar claustrophobic climax, in which the hero is trapped inside a room while the door is battered down. It's a fairly well constructed one, with several different strands adding extra tension – secret dispatches that must be burned, a large group of soldiers on their way. There's also a great example of how Griffith punctuates action when the little girl fires her father's gun at the exact moment Henry Walthall breaks down the door. The gunshot serves no purpose to the story, since she misses, but it really gives the moment an extra impact.

In the Border States demonstrates, in a single film, the rather ambiguous attitude Griffith had towards the war. He shows heroism and nobility exists on both sides, and even draws parallels between the experiences of West, the Union officer, and Walthall, the confederate. This even-handedness, and occasional self-contradiction runs all through Griffith's work.

In 1910, America was preparing to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of the Civil War, and the gradual development of cinema made it possible to convincingly recreate the events of decades past. While many of these Civil War films were dispensable and quickly forgotten, at least one director knew exactly what he was doing with the camera. D.W. Griffith became such a successful filmmaker because he could really connect with the human side of his characters. War films can very easily become a one-sided affair, showing sympathy and compassion for only one of the feuding powers, while the other one is designated to the role of the faceless enemy. Not so for Griffith, at least not in this case. 'In the Border States (1910)' humanises both sides of the American Civil War, suggesting that there was little difference between the soldiers who fought for either the Union or the Confederacy (a sobering realisation that usually only comes years after the bloodshed of combat).

The film opens with a young father (Charles West) joining the Union army and marching off to war, leaving behind an anxious family. His daughter (Gladys Egan), collecting water at the well one day, is surprised by a Confederate soldier, who is dying of thirst and being pursued by the enemy. Despite her prejudices, the girl decides to help the poor man, a simple act of kindness that will later reward her in kind. 'In the Border States' really captures the turmoil and confusion of the Civil War, with soldiers fighting fellow Americans at their own doorstep, and being unable to understand why they are in conflict with men who are so similar to themselves. The young girl's benevolence shows that, while loyalty to one's army is noble, this comes second to one's obligation towards his fellow man – regardless of nationality or beliefs. Griffith's action-packed Biograph short, without needing to hammer its message home, is a stirring anti-war testament; it's too bad that, within a few years, the world would be making the same mistakes all over again.

"In the Border States" is a very simple story of a horrible and senseless time, but it gets top rating because of the performance of little Gladys Egan.

In years, her career, if that's even the right word, was short, but in those few years, she accumulated 110 credits, apparently not performing after 1914.

She plays the younger daughter of a man who goes off to war, and that terrible event is fought right in the family's neighborhood.

Northern and Southern forces fight back and forth, and the child gets her loyalties and her humanity tested.

Not much surprising happens, but how little Gladys Egan, about age 10 at filming, handles her role makes watching this completely worthwhile.

Eight stars. If there is one short that encapsulates all of Griffith's views on honor and loyalty, this is it. Griffith was a southerner, born in the 1870s. His father and grandfather were Confederate soldiers. And it's pretty clear that he bought into the "Lost Cause" myth. But who does he make the sympathetic core of the film? The family of a Union soldier. The hero is a Confederate, but notice that neither side does anything horrific. Nor anything particularly praise-worthy (until the end). Something modern viewers should consider, watching this film, is that anyone in their 50s would remember the Civil War in 1910. It wasn't history yet, it was memory. So making a war movie that centers on family, and with sympathy for both sides, was a bold act. 2 February 2024.

In the Border States (1910)

*** (out of 4)

Civil War short has a father (Charles West) joining the Union and going off to war. The father gets sent on a secret mission but he is wounded and barely makes it back home. When his child rushes off to get help a group of Confederate solders come in and its up to one to turn the father in or not. This is a pretty interesting short from Griffith because it's rather low-key and shows the human side of war. The story itself is pretty far fetched but that doesn't really matter because the main thing is its message and the director has no trouble getting this across. The fact that two sides could be fighting for their own beliefs but this shouldn't stand in front of doing the right thing is something Griffith told in many of his movies but the war backdrop here just makes it all the more memorable. Another big plus is the cinematography by G.W. Bitzer is excellent as are the New Jersey locations, which are filling in for a Southern state. Henry B. Walthall, Dorothy West and Mack Sennett are among the cast.