Although there have been several comments on this and the other films on the CIVIL WAR FILMS OF THE SILENT ERA DVD -- which also includes two other Thomas Ince films, the celebrated THE COWARD and the lesser-known THE DRUMMER OF THE EIGHTH, I would like to bring up a point about the beauty of Ince's films. First, his sense of composition is definitely superior to Griffith's at the time these films were made: instead of focusing your eye by changing the shape of the frame, a technique that was going strong at this stage of motion pictures, he uses the lines of composition in a painterly fashion to let the viewer see his subjects in a more naturalistic fashion.
In addition, the costumes are carefully chosen and the sets carefully decorated for the purposes of the film maker. Lilian Gish, in her book THE MOVIES, MR. GRIFFITH AND ME writes of how she would choose her costumes for D.W. Griffith's pictures. In Ince's films, in contrast, the costumes are chosen for the purposes of composition: characters who are to stand out against dark backgrounds wear light colors. for instance.
There are many striking images in this film: Granddad standing in lonely pride on a hill; the veterans, Rembrandt-like, sitting in the bar; the clean lines of the gun emplacement in the battle scene, destroyed by gunsmoke and fighting soldiers; the lines of visitors to the graveyard, moving slowly among the white stones and waving flags. They are not the famous images used by Griffith, chosen, as we are told, from the magazines and newspapers of the era. Surely their beauty and power are aided by the excellence of this print, but they are beautiful and moving. Accustomed as we are to seeing worn-out prints of silent films many generations from the camera negative, this film is startling and fluid as it gives the lie to our preconceptions. I can only hope that the forthcoming D.W. Griffith: Years Of Discovery 1909-1913 DVD will have prints of similar quality. On that, you will have to check comments on the titles on that DVD. I look forward to writing several.
In addition, the costumes are carefully chosen and the sets carefully decorated for the purposes of the film maker. Lilian Gish, in her book THE MOVIES, MR. GRIFFITH AND ME writes of how she would choose her costumes for D.W. Griffith's pictures. In Ince's films, in contrast, the costumes are chosen for the purposes of composition: characters who are to stand out against dark backgrounds wear light colors. for instance.
There are many striking images in this film: Granddad standing in lonely pride on a hill; the veterans, Rembrandt-like, sitting in the bar; the clean lines of the gun emplacement in the battle scene, destroyed by gunsmoke and fighting soldiers; the lines of visitors to the graveyard, moving slowly among the white stones and waving flags. They are not the famous images used by Griffith, chosen, as we are told, from the magazines and newspapers of the era. Surely their beauty and power are aided by the excellence of this print, but they are beautiful and moving. Accustomed as we are to seeing worn-out prints of silent films many generations from the camera negative, this film is startling and fluid as it gives the lie to our preconceptions. I can only hope that the forthcoming D.W. Griffith: Years Of Discovery 1909-1913 DVD will have prints of similar quality. On that, you will have to check comments on the titles on that DVD. I look forward to writing several.
