Dartmouth Events

Online & Live at Howe Library - Showtime begins  exactly at 7PM, please arrive early!

https://thehowe.org/eventdetail.php/pid/2/sid/55/tid/141/eid/7633

Prior to the explosive phenomena of Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915), he had directed over 400 short films for the Biograph Company between 1908 and 1913 in which “America’s Sweetheart” actress Mary Pickford made her first screen appearances in 1909 and 1912. Robert Haller enlisted film historian Jay Leyda, an expert on Griffith, to lecture at a ten-part Griffith Biograph series in 1987. One crystalline idea espoused by Leyda was the psychological dimensions Griffith added to cinema. The films tonight offer dynamic examples of early screen acting and a rare opportunity to explore a bygone era.

To join Zoom, register at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEufuivpj8uHtDQEbrqx9-3pxfF0i36_IC9

“Above all … I am trying to make you see.” —David Wark Griffith

“To watch his work is like being witness to the beginning of melody, or the first conscious use of the lever or the wheel; the emergence, coordination, and first eloquence of language; the birth of an art: and to realize that this is all the work of one man.” —James Agee

“The whole industry owes its existence to him.” —Charlie Chaplin

FILMS: “Prologue” The Birth of a Nation (1930) D.W.Griffith with Walter Huston 5:54’; A Lodging for the Night (1912) 14’; The Mountaineer’s Honor (1909) 15’; So Near, Yet So Far (1912) 14:42’; Iola’s Promise (1912) 16’; The School Girl and the Waif (1912) 17:38’; The Female of the Species (1912) 14’; Fate (1913) 17:13’ with Mae Marsh. Directed by D.W. Griffith starring Mary Pickford unless noted. TRT 105 mins.

BIO: David Wark Griffith is perhaps the greatest filmmaker of all time, even in spite of the enormous cloud that hangs over his legacy due to the overt racism depicted by his cinema. His primary achievement was to transform cinema art from nickelodeon fare to the heights of human expression. Simultaneously, he dominated Hollywood film exploitation with his features The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Broken Blossoms (1921) using business practices that remain viable to this day.

BIO: Bruce Posner began Ciné Salon: Impression on the Art of the Cinematograph at the Howe Library in 1996. He has made personal films his entire life and since 1975 has organized talks about cinema to audiences all over the world.

LINKS: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pickford-d-w-griffith-1875-1948/

https://marypickford.org/caris-articles/mary-pickford-d-w-griffith-learned/

https://time.com/3729807/d-w-griffiths-the-birth-of-a-nation-10/

XXV:HALLER¹: Ciné Salon Fall 2021 honors the remarkable film historian, film archivist and photo documentarian Robert A. Haller (1942-2021). http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/about/haller