The Lonely Villa

Watching this movie today, it's one that's more interesting than it is entertaining. In addition to being an early piece of cinema (and one that uses editing to some extent), this is also the earliest surviving movie with Mary Pickford, and maybe natural place to start if you want to explore her career. She plays the damsel in distress, and, well, you can't fault her performance as it leaves little doubt that that's what she is.

I'm sure this was a thrilling watch back in the day, and I hope there are some written accounts of how the audience reacted to it. It's obvious that the suspense is there, but only temporary accounts can tell if it worked as intended.

This was not the only film like this that D.W. Griffith made, as he later made a very similar one with the Gish sisters in similar straights. Regardless, it is very exciting and holds up well today.

The film begins with a husband being lured from his home by some evil thieves. As soon as he's gone, the crooks break in and the wife takes her three daughters (one is Mary Pickford) into an adjoining room to safety. There she barricades the door against the three scum-bags. Just then, the husband calls and the wife tells him of their plight--and he rushes home to try to save them. Will he be too late? This is a very, very simple plot and works effectively. The acting is reasonable and the action exciting. A very good film for its day.

"Thank God, they're saved!" said a woman behind us at the conclusion of the Biograph film bearing the above title. Just like this woman, the entire audience were in a state of intense excitement as this picture was being shown. And no wonder, for it is one of the most adroitly managed bits of bloodless film drama that we have seen. From the moment the picture starts all is expectancy. Indeed, when we saw the picture at Fourteenth street, the house literally "rose" at the story, it is so closely, effectively and convincingly told. As good a piece of sharp, rapid, decisive, dramatic work as we have seen. As is usual nowadays, with all Biograph stories, and the Biograph Company certainly have the art of getting hold of good stories, this one is finely photographed. The acting, too, is of a high order. The villains are villainous, the husband very realistic in his agony, especially at the telephone, whilst the Biograph heroine is as handsome and graceful as ever. We really felt inclined to kick that burglar man for so unceremoniously stripping the jewels from this fair lady's neck. "Lonely Villa" is another Biograph success. – The Moving Picture World, June 19, 1909

Lonely Villa (1909)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A gang lures a father away from his house so that they can rob it and terrorize his wife and three daughters. There's some great editing at the end that builds up the suspense but the direction isn't tight enough for it to work all the way through. Mary Pickford plays one of the children.

Son's Return, The (1909)

*** (out of 4)

A son goes off to the big city to make big bucks. Years later he returns and ends up staying at his parents inn but they've forgotten him but when they see his cash, they plan to rob him. This Griffith short certainly goes "out there" in its story but I always enjoy these downbeat films where the director could do whatever he wanted and didn't always have to add a happy ending onto the film. Mary Pickford has a small part as the man's love.

This is a decent short drama that creates some fairly good suspense with a story of a mother and her children being attacked by a gang of deceitful and brutal thieves. For its time, the story is told pretty well, shifting scenes at times to heighten the suspense. It does get a bit choppy in places, and things don't always fit together smoothly, whether due to the editing or perhaps simply due to its age. (It just doesn't seem to be as carefully pieced together as many of Griffith's short films.) But it's all watchable, and the story makes you want to find out what will happen. It should be interesting enough for anyone who likes these early short melodramas. A young Mary Pickford also has a small role.