The 1912 film Friends, may or may not have been the first film to use a closeup, but it was certainly the first extreme closeup for Mary Pickford. She tells in her autobiography, It was late in the afternoon when Griffith shouted to Billy Bitzer, the cameraman: "Come on Billy, let's have some fun! Move the camera up and get closer to Mary." She had done something different that day herself, putting on a second application of make-up. They took the shot, and Mary couldn't wait to see the results. Back at the studio's projection room, she was shocked at the grotesquely magnified face on the screen, and immediately noticed her excess use of eyebrow pencil and eye shadow. Lionel was just as shocked by his own appearance on the screen, asking Mary "Am I really that fat? She didn't want to answer him, hoping he would let it drop, but he repeated the question insistently, that Mary finally replied, "I'm sorry, Mr.Barrymore, but you are." "Then that does it," declared Barrymore, " no more beer for me." She was also upset with the dress she wore, in Friends, an old dress of her mother's with large balloon sleeves that made it look nearer 1894 than the 1849 called for in the story. Mary Pickford was always hypercritical of her work, especially her early films. The detailed-minded actress worried later, of looking foolish and being laughed at, because of what she considered, the crudeness of her early films. Thank goodness she changed her will, as to not having her movies destroyed and this early Biograph example survives for fans of Pickford and silent film genre to enjoy.
10 Reviews
"Fine feathers 'n' everything"
Steffi_P12 July 2008
DW Griffith made a fair few westerns, and most of them fit into the genre conventions of the time tales of adventure and exploration (with the hero often an easterner) which would later give way to the pioneer wagon pictures of the 1920s. Friends however is a small-canvas romance in the same vein as many of Griffith's contemporary pictures of 1912.
For whatever reason, Friends sees Griffith in experimental mode, trying out several new techniques and styles, some of which he would never really explore again. First, there is his cutting between long-shots and mid-shots. In the saloon bar, he several times cuts from Mary Pickford in the background on the staircase, with the barflies lounging all over the foreground, to a mid-shot framing her on her own. This technique creates two very different spaces on the same set. This isn't the first time Griffith had done this, but it's certainly one of the most effective examples from this era. The camera is beginning to be freed up, and we are moving towards what would later become normal coverage and editing patterns.
It's often been pointed out that Griffith never used point-of-view shots, but here he does come close. While it's true he never actually showed a shot of action from another character's perspective, those close-ups of the photograph in Friends are at least a shot of an object from the point-of-view of a character. Now, arguably such a shot is just a variation on the title card, just as when we see a detail of a letter, but Griffith does at least literalise it, including the hand in the frame and thus making it clear that the audience sees it as the character does.
This is also probably Griffith's most extensive use of title cards being character's spoken words, and inserted into the middle of scenes, as oppose to the usual explanatory title cards at the beginning of each scene. Griffith would use "speech" titles a lot more in his features, but they were never the majority. It is possible though that the original titles are lost, and Friends was later restored with new titles, which I believe is the case with some of the Biograph shorts.
A pretty distinguished cast is lined up here. Mary Pickford was by now instated as Griffith's primary leading lady, after having spent an unusually long time hovering in the background in supporting roles. She proves herself perfect for the subtle, naturalistic approach that was by now the hallmark of Griffith dramas. Pickford is ably supported by Henry Walthall and Lionel Barrymore. Considering his later status and "type" it's odd seeing Barrymore so frequently playing these unkempt rakish figures in his days at Biograph.
By the way, Mary Pickford once claimed that a shot of her in Friends was the first ever close-up, and this was repeated as true in Robert Windeler's biography of her. However, a glance over Biograph shorts from as early as 1910 prove this is not the case.
For whatever reason, Friends sees Griffith in experimental mode, trying out several new techniques and styles, some of which he would never really explore again. First, there is his cutting between long-shots and mid-shots. In the saloon bar, he several times cuts from Mary Pickford in the background on the staircase, with the barflies lounging all over the foreground, to a mid-shot framing her on her own. This technique creates two very different spaces on the same set. This isn't the first time Griffith had done this, but it's certainly one of the most effective examples from this era. The camera is beginning to be freed up, and we are moving towards what would later become normal coverage and editing patterns.
It's often been pointed out that Griffith never used point-of-view shots, but here he does come close. While it's true he never actually showed a shot of action from another character's perspective, those close-ups of the photograph in Friends are at least a shot of an object from the point-of-view of a character. Now, arguably such a shot is just a variation on the title card, just as when we see a detail of a letter, but Griffith does at least literalise it, including the hand in the frame and thus making it clear that the audience sees it as the character does.
This is also probably Griffith's most extensive use of title cards being character's spoken words, and inserted into the middle of scenes, as oppose to the usual explanatory title cards at the beginning of each scene. Griffith would use "speech" titles a lot more in his features, but they were never the majority. It is possible though that the original titles are lost, and Friends was later restored with new titles, which I believe is the case with some of the Biograph shorts.
A pretty distinguished cast is lined up here. Mary Pickford was by now instated as Griffith's primary leading lady, after having spent an unusually long time hovering in the background in supporting roles. She proves herself perfect for the subtle, naturalistic approach that was by now the hallmark of Griffith dramas. Pickford is ably supported by Henry Walthall and Lionel Barrymore. Considering his later status and "type" it's odd seeing Barrymore so frequently playing these unkempt rakish figures in his days at Biograph.
By the way, Mary Pickford once claimed that a shot of her in Friends was the first ever close-up, and this was repeated as true in Robert Windeler's biography of her. However, a glance over Biograph shorts from as early as 1910 prove this is not the case.
Not great, but it DOES have Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore!
planktonrules13 August 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This isn't one of the better silent shorts directed by D. W. Griffith for Biograph Studios. While it isn't overacted or sloppy, the script seems to be awfully simplistic and also seems to be missing something--and it seems to be conflict.
Mary is in love with a local man, but the man breaks off their relationship to go looking for money and adventure up North. So, naturally, she sees other guys and falls for Barrymore. When the old sweetheart later returns, he finds that she is in love with a new guy and this new guy is also his friend,...so he does the right thing and bows out of the picture. THAT'S IT! Not a lot to this 13 minute flick.
Mary is in love with a local man, but the man breaks off their relationship to go looking for money and adventure up North. So, naturally, she sees other guys and falls for Barrymore. When the old sweetheart later returns, he finds that she is in love with a new guy and this new guy is also his friend,...so he does the right thing and bows out of the picture. THAT'S IT! Not a lot to this 13 minute flick.
Simple Drama With A Fine Cast
Snow Leopard30 January 2006
The fine cast is what makes this simple drama of romantic relationships worth seeing. Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, and Harry Carey (looking quite young and skinny) would make any movie worth seeing, but here it is actually Henry B. Walthall who grabs the spotlight with a charismatic and interesting performance.
The story has Pickford as an orphan, now a young woman, who has grown up as the darling of a gold mining town. As her beau, Walthall has a role a little less one-dimensional than many of his roles from the era. As his character's name implies, Dandy Jack is an attention-getting, slightly self-absorbed figure. Walthall fleshes out the character quite well, making him much more than a mere caricature of the type, solely through small gestures and expressions.
The rest of the fine cast also does well. There's actually very little to the story, and so the characters really have to carry the movie, along with a slight boost from the setting in and around mining settlements, which is interesting but not particularly detailed.
The story has Pickford as an orphan, now a young woman, who has grown up as the darling of a gold mining town. As her beau, Walthall has a role a little less one-dimensional than many of his roles from the era. As his character's name implies, Dandy Jack is an attention-getting, slightly self-absorbed figure. Walthall fleshes out the character quite well, making him much more than a mere caricature of the type, solely through small gestures and expressions.
The rest of the fine cast also does well. There's actually very little to the story, and so the characters really have to carry the movie, along with a slight boost from the setting in and around mining settlements, which is interesting but not particularly detailed.
Friends review
JoeytheBrit23 June 2020
Living in a room above a saloon in a rough and tumble mining town, Mary Pickford, understands all too well that a hard life will be that much harder without a man. So, when Dandy Jack (Henry B. Walthall) announces that he's moving on, she's not slow to take up with his pal Grizzly Fallon (Lionel Barrymore). But how will Jack receive the news when he has a change of heart? A slight tale that's light on plot, but which gets by on the personalities of its players, all of whom would soon become recognised stars now that their names were included in the credits.
Friends and Lovers
wes-connors19 August 2007
Early film directed by D.W. Griffith; it stars Mary Pickford as an upstairs saloon girl who has a great time with dandy patron Henry B. Walthall. Then, he leaves her for business opportunities up "north." Ms. Pickford is devastated, of course. On his way of town, Mr. Walthall meets old friend Lionel Barrymore, who is on his way in town. Ironically, his friend's abandoned girl catches Mr. Barrymore's eye. Later, Walthall returns
Classic plot involving two "Friends" in love with the same girl. Pickford and her suitors play it quaintly. The film endeavors to show the lasting friendship between men Walthall and Barrymore. Yet, Pickford steals the theme - making it more a study of her character's sacrifice.
****** Friends (9/23/12) D.W. Griffith ~ Mary Pickford, Henry B. Walthall, Lionel Barrymore
Classic plot involving two "Friends" in love with the same girl. Pickford and her suitors play it quaintly. The film endeavors to show the lasting friendship between men Walthall and Barrymore. Yet, Pickford steals the theme - making it more a study of her character's sacrifice.
****** Friends (9/23/12) D.W. Griffith ~ Mary Pickford, Henry B. Walthall, Lionel Barrymore
Mr. Griffth, I'm Ready For My Close-Up
springfieldrental14 April 2021
In her autobiography, actress Mary Pickford claimed cinema's first close-up occurred when Biograph Studio director D. W. Griffith said to his cameraman Billy Bitzer while filming October 1912's "Friends," "Come on, Billy, let's have some fun. Move the camera up and get closer to Mary."
Close-ups were nothing new in movies. England's George Albert Smith, as early as 1900 in "Grandma's Reading Glass," showed an extreme close-up of a kid's eyeball looking through a magnifying glass. D. W. Griffith previously used close-ups to show objects, such as the wrench in "The Lonedale Operator," which played a crucial role in explaining how the tool could mask as a gun.
But Ms. Pickford's claim may be true in that her two close-ups in "Friends" conveyed an emotional tie-in to the movie's main plot: a woman torn between two lovers.
There are many reasons screenwriters and directors use the close-up in their films. But the primary one, and its most effective usage, is to capture the emotions churning inside an actor's mind/body during key situations. (Just think of TV soap operas when they shows CUs of actors right before commercial break.)
In Griffith's "Friends," the opening close-up reflects Pickford, playing a hooker in a mining town, facing a predicament in loving the town's cad. After he dumps her for the prospect of greater riches elsewhere, a friend of his, not knowing Pickford's relationship with the flamboyant ex-lover, falls for her. Pickford's ending close-up shows her emotional confusion, a perfect shot that pioneered new turf in cinema.
The Biograph Studio movie contained two other actors who would achieve future noteworthy roles. Lionell Barrymore, the performer everyone knows as Mr. Potter, the ruthless banker in "It's A Wonderful Life," had joined Biograph in 1909 and was one of the studio's leading actors by the time "Friends" was released.
"Friends" was one of the first Biograph appearances for actor Harry Carey, who became an Oscar winner for his role as President of the Senate in "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington." He was hired by Griffith after the director saw Carey in some minor roles in small Western films. Carey would eventually become a good friend and mentor for director John Ford a few years later.
Close-ups were nothing new in movies. England's George Albert Smith, as early as 1900 in "Grandma's Reading Glass," showed an extreme close-up of a kid's eyeball looking through a magnifying glass. D. W. Griffith previously used close-ups to show objects, such as the wrench in "The Lonedale Operator," which played a crucial role in explaining how the tool could mask as a gun.
But Ms. Pickford's claim may be true in that her two close-ups in "Friends" conveyed an emotional tie-in to the movie's main plot: a woman torn between two lovers.
There are many reasons screenwriters and directors use the close-up in their films. But the primary one, and its most effective usage, is to capture the emotions churning inside an actor's mind/body during key situations. (Just think of TV soap operas when they shows CUs of actors right before commercial break.)
In Griffith's "Friends," the opening close-up reflects Pickford, playing a hooker in a mining town, facing a predicament in loving the town's cad. After he dumps her for the prospect of greater riches elsewhere, a friend of his, not knowing Pickford's relationship with the flamboyant ex-lover, falls for her. Pickford's ending close-up shows her emotional confusion, a perfect shot that pioneered new turf in cinema.
The Biograph Studio movie contained two other actors who would achieve future noteworthy roles. Lionell Barrymore, the performer everyone knows as Mr. Potter, the ruthless banker in "It's A Wonderful Life," had joined Biograph in 1909 and was one of the studio's leading actors by the time "Friends" was released.
"Friends" was one of the first Biograph appearances for actor Harry Carey, who became an Oscar winner for his role as President of the Senate in "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington." He was hired by Griffith after the director saw Carey in some minor roles in small Western films. Carey would eventually become a good friend and mentor for director John Ford a few years later.
Love Wild West style
adt12521 August 2008
When love leaves, then a woman needs to take the first best thing that next comes along, when you are out in the west. Doesn't take long for the abandoned woman to take up with another man.
Also seems to be a mate-ship message here from Griffith's - don't let a woman come between you and a mate, in the Wild West at least.
Barrymore looks like John Wayne in this, until the hat comes off. It is again interesting to see that Mary Pickford moves slowly and also uses her hands often and tenderly when with another - a habit of hers. I wonder if she was consciously slowing her movements down to make her movements appear smoother on screen. It is noticeable in a number of her films.
Also nice to be able to lip read Pickford when she is talking from the stairs..."Come up stairs" "come on"
I have only seen a a bad quality copy of this film but it is most obvious that Mary Pickford would have looked absolutely gorgeous in the clear fresh film of 1912.
We shouldn't forget the cowboy at the front in the saloon, who adds a lot of character to the scenes. It looked pretty much like Elmer Booth who was another fine up and coming actor of the time. He was the lead in a excellent little film with Mary Pickford - The Narrow Road (1912). Sadly he died as a passenger in a car accident in 1915. As reported in the New York Times of the day.
Also seems to be a mate-ship message here from Griffith's - don't let a woman come between you and a mate, in the Wild West at least.
Barrymore looks like John Wayne in this, until the hat comes off. It is again interesting to see that Mary Pickford moves slowly and also uses her hands often and tenderly when with another - a habit of hers. I wonder if she was consciously slowing her movements down to make her movements appear smoother on screen. It is noticeable in a number of her films.
Also nice to be able to lip read Pickford when she is talking from the stairs..."Come up stairs" "come on"
I have only seen a a bad quality copy of this film but it is most obvious that Mary Pickford would have looked absolutely gorgeous in the clear fresh film of 1912.
We shouldn't forget the cowboy at the front in the saloon, who adds a lot of character to the scenes. It looked pretty much like Elmer Booth who was another fine up and coming actor of the time. He was the lead in a excellent little film with Mary Pickford - The Narrow Road (1912). Sadly he died as a passenger in a car accident in 1915. As reported in the New York Times of the day.
Griffith, Pickford, Barrymore
Michael_Elliott27 February 2008
Friends (1912)
*** (out of 4)
D.W. Griffith film about a gold digger (Mary Pickford) who goes after two men (Henry B. Walthall, Lionel Barrymore) not knowing they are friends. Griffith does a great job at building up the ending, although there's a little too much sugar on it for the film to really work but then again, you come to expect this out of the director. Pickford is downright delightful as the woman after gold while Walthall and Barrymore are great as usual. Harry Carey has a small role.
Available on DVD through Kino.
*** (out of 4)
D.W. Griffith film about a gold digger (Mary Pickford) who goes after two men (Henry B. Walthall, Lionel Barrymore) not knowing they are friends. Griffith does a great job at building up the ending, although there's a little too much sugar on it for the film to really work but then again, you come to expect this out of the director. Pickford is downright delightful as the woman after gold while Walthall and Barrymore are great as usual. Harry Carey has a small role.
Available on DVD through Kino.
It will interest all kinds of people
deickemeyer11 February 2017
A dramatic little love story in the costume of the 70's and which happens to be set in the West. The atmosphere is truly Western, but this is merely because the producer, having chosen to set his situation in a gold diggings country, used backgrounds of all kinds in perfect keeping. There are but three characters in the foreground, the daughter of the innkeeper and belle of the mining village (Little Mary); a young blade, perhaps a gambler or a speculator, who is dressed in a frock coat and topper (William Walthall), and a miner of a rather rough but honest appearance. These two men are the "friends," and the picture's chief object is to set forth the character of the young blade. He holds women in more or less contempt; but for his friend he holds a just respect. It is a realistic picture that appeals to the mind rather than to the emotions. A commendable picture; it will interest all kinds of people. The gallery will like the atmosphere; the critical will enjoy its matter. - The Moving Picture World, October 5, 1912
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