Period drama with a touch of horror in which D. W. Griffith once again explores the terror of being trapped in a confined, airtight space. Dorothy West and Wilfred Lucas are star-crossed lovers whose secret romance is threatened by her father's decision to wed her to another nobleman. The sets are almost as confined as the locked cupboard in which Lucas finds himself, and no doubt audiences of the day would have found the ending quite chilling
4 Reviews
A Study in Composition
boblipton12 October 2016
When High Renaissance Lady Blanche Sweet is engaged to be married, her lover Arthur Johnson shows up. Her fiancé stuffs him in a closet to asphyxiate in this little known D.W. Griffith short film.
Griffith was always experimenting in this period, often by taking what earlier film makers had done and seeing how it could fit in as a component of the film grammar he was developing. In this case, he was exploring what he could learn from the films of Georges Hatot, who had created filmed tableaux vivantes, in which he would take a famous painting and convert it into a short film. The point of such films as L'ASSASSINAT DU DUC DE GUISE were the moments in which David's famous picture were reproduced.
If this movie looks like a series of Renaissance paintings, that's exactly what Griffith and cameraman Billy Bitzer intended. It's still a common technique in films; you have only to look at a superhero movie and recognize an old splash panel being reproduced for a shot to see it.
If you wish to see it in its raw, experimental form, there is a good copy of the movie on the Eye Institute site on YouTube.
Griffith was always experimenting in this period, often by taking what earlier film makers had done and seeing how it could fit in as a component of the film grammar he was developing. In this case, he was exploring what he could learn from the films of Georges Hatot, who had created filmed tableaux vivantes, in which he would take a famous painting and convert it into a short film. The point of such films as L'ASSASSINAT DU DUC DE GUISE were the moments in which David's famous picture were reproduced.
If this movie looks like a series of Renaissance paintings, that's exactly what Griffith and cameraman Billy Bitzer intended. It's still a common technique in films; you have only to look at a superhero movie and recognize an old splash panel being reproduced for a shot to see it.
If you wish to see it in its raw, experimental form, there is a good copy of the movie on the Eye Institute site on YouTube.
The story has no more than a modicum of interest
deickemeyer17 November 2015
A dramatic story, or, at least, some parts of it are dramatic, of an old Italian love story between families who cultivated a feud. Of course, it is apparent to whoever has followed the intricacies of an Italian drama of about six or seven centuries age that a feud is necessary to the daily life of those people. When a love affair developed between two families who had been jealously nursing a feud for a number of years, it meant death for somebody. In this instance the unfortunate lover was put in an air-tight closet by his sweetheart, and before she could release him he smothered. A very uncomfortable death to die, and a very tearful situation when the closet was opened and his dead body fell out. Staging and costuming are elaborate, but the story has no more than a modicum of interest. It seems too improbable. - The Moving Picture World, February 18, 1911
An understated experiment in editing, cinematic aesthetics, and composition
MissSimonetta19 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
HEART BEATS OF LONG AGO is rarely mentioned alongside the "essential" DW Griffith shorts like THE NEW YORK HAT or THE MUSKETEERS OF PIG ALLEY, but it is certainly one of his strongest two-reelers. While many might write off the cinematography as "stagey," as many early films were, here Griffith and his team are actually experimenting with composition and editing.
The first scene resembles a Botticelli painting in its aesthetics and framing, a way of projecting the youth and beauty of the heroine onto her surroundings. Most of the scenes are composed carefully, from the placement of the actors to the make-up of the sets themselves, resembling Renaissance era art. The effect is pleasing, making this one of the best-looking Griffith shorts.
Of course, parts of this are still primitive: the acting is filled with arm waving, nostril flaring, and wringing of hands, and the asphyxiation of the heroine's lover in the sealed off closet, could have been shot with tighter close-ups to better convey the claustrophobic terror of the moment, rather than having the poor actor flail about in a medium shot. But then again, this is 1911 and for a film of that vintage, this is very entertaining indeed.
The first scene resembles a Botticelli painting in its aesthetics and framing, a way of projecting the youth and beauty of the heroine onto her surroundings. Most of the scenes are composed carefully, from the placement of the actors to the make-up of the sets themselves, resembling Renaissance era art. The effect is pleasing, making this one of the best-looking Griffith shorts.
Of course, parts of this are still primitive: the acting is filled with arm waving, nostril flaring, and wringing of hands, and the asphyxiation of the heroine's lover in the sealed off closet, could have been shot with tighter close-ups to better convey the claustrophobic terror of the moment, rather than having the poor actor flail about in a medium shot. But then again, this is 1911 and for a film of that vintage, this is very entertaining indeed.
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