This program highlights Lillian Gish’s film debut as well as her acting tutelage under American Mutoscope and Biograph director D. W. Griffith. The films are silent, with musical accompaniment by Stuart Oderman.
An Unseen Enemy. Incomplete. 1912. USA. Directed by D. W. Griffith. Screenplay by Edward Acker. With Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Elmer Booth, Robert Harron. The Gish sisters play victims to their larcenous maid. 14 min.
The Musketeers of Pig Alley. 1912. USA. Written and directed by D. W. Griffith. With Gish, Walter Miller, Elmer Booth. In this view of “New York’s Other Side,” Gish’s “Little Lady” is caught in the middle of a feudal war between gangsters. 16 min.
A Misunderstood Boy. 1913. USA. Directed by D. W. Griffith. Screenplay by W. Christy Cabanne. With Gish, Robert Harron, Kate Bruce, Lionel Barrymore. A boy (Harron) flees from vigilantes in this comedy set in the old West. 14 min.
A Timely Interception. Incomplete. 1913. USA. Directed by D. W. Griffith. Screenplay by W. Christy Cabanne. With Gish, Robert Harron, W. Chrystie Miller, Lionel Barrymore. A farmer’s daughter (Gish) postpones her wedding in order to lend money to her uncle (Barrymore) who was recently fired from the oil fields. However, oil turns out to be their saving grace. 14 min.
The Lady and the Mouse. 1913. USA. Written and directed by D. W. Griffith. With Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Lionel Barrymore, Henry Hyde. Gish plays a young woman who shows sympathy to both mouse and man. Her compassion is repaid when a benefactor helps her sick sister. 14 min.
New York City, NY; NYC