The Adventures of Dollie (1908)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Writer:

Stanner E.V. Taylor (writer)

Release Date:

14 July 1908 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Short

Plot:

On a warm and sunny summer's day, a mother and father take their young daughter Dollie on a riverside outing...

Plot Keywords:

Gypsy | Barrel | Waterfall | Lost Child | Melodrama

Cast

Arthur V. Johnson	...	Father
Linda Arvidson	...	Mother
Gladys Egan	...	Dollie
Charles Inslee	...	Gypsy
Madeline West	...	Gypsy's wife
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mrs. George Gebhardt

Runtime:

12 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Sound Beach, Connecticut, USA

Company:

American Mutoscope & Biograph

Trivia:

The film represents D.W. Griffith's directorial debut.

Movie Connections:

Featured in A Century of Cinema (1994)

Griffith's maiden voyage; otherwise unexceptional

Though listed as "lost" in Iris Barry's 1940 biography of D.W. Griffith, "The Adventures of Dollie" was discovered in the Library of Congress' paper print division in the 50s and transferred back to flexible film. Having seen it on 8mm, I can attest that it is a rather ordinary one-reeler consisting of thirteen scenes shot from twelve set-ups with nothing to distinguish it from other Biograph product of the era than that it is known to have been the first film directed by D.W. Griffith. I'm rather surprised by the high rating the imdb voters have given it, as Griffith would achieve much higher standards even within 1908, and would go on in short measure to blow films like "Dollie" totally out of the water, both technically and in terms of story development. For him it was merely a start, for us it's amazing this historic treasure survives to be seen at all.