Rescued from an Eagle's Nest

In the 1930s the Museum of Modern Art discovered an old print of this title and recognized director D.W. Griffith as the young woodsman and the hero of this picture. From Griffith, MOMA got the idea that "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest" was his first film appearance, made in 1907 before he arrived at Biograph. The old man's memory may have been playing tricks on him, as we know now that Griffith joined Biograph late in 1907 and "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest" was apparently the sole instance where Griffith picked up a role outside of the Biograph studio. The experience must have been valuable to him, because -- unlike the hapless, inept and inexperienced Wallace McCutchen Jr. at Biograph -- Porter and Dawley were smart and efficient in making films, and Griffith probably brought their practices into place when he finally replaced the younger McCutcheon at Biograph. I'm not quite sure why established writing on "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest" always emphasizes how silly and banal this Nickelodeon-era short is; Porter's special effect of the eagle carrying away the baby is very well made for 1908, and as the audience for this piece would have been mostly women and children, it would have doubtlessly been effective in their eyes. The acting style may be a bit overwrought, but remember that the actors had to project from a distance, as it was still customary to present a stage-like perspective in motion pictures. Griffith himself would be one of the principal players in the art of variegating that distance to help establish the language of cinema as something apart from the typical theatrical experience, but in January 1908 that was still in the future. Griffith's one or two days spent working for Edison can be seen as something that helped to ground the lofty actor in basic filmmaking, even if as an old man he didn't really remember much of the particulars regarding this shoot.

After acting on stage for several years, D.W. Griffith, who was dead broke, turned to writing movie treatments, one of which he submitted to Edison Studios. It was personally promptly rejected by its producer, Edwin Porter, but he was offered an acting role in an upcoming movie because of his large frame. Griffith accepted.

In his first role on the screen, he's the father in January 1908's "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest." What's remarkable about this movie, besides Griffith's first appearance on film, is the special effects of an eagle carrying a real-life baby in the air. The kid doesn't look too happy. Richard Murphy's handling of the mechanical eagle is quite ingenious, especially as the stop-motion substitution of the baby to a mannequin in the initial swooping scene, is quite effective.

On the negative side, J. Searle Dawley, who was just hired by Edison Studios and had a stage background, directed this seven-minute one-reeler. His camera is static throughout and the rescue on the cliff could improve if only he had panned left for better framing.

Meanwhile, for Griffith, the role opened the door for him to make a career in cinema: six months later, he's directing for American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, one of Edison Studios' competitors.

D.W. Griffith gets his ax, kisses his wife, and tweaks his baby; then, Woodsman Griffith is off to work. While he's chopping down trees, a huge Eagle swoops down and kidnaps his unattended baby. Mother emerges and discovers the Eagle has taken her child; she picks up a rifle, but, wisely, thinks before shooting at the airborne pair. Instead, she goes to get Griffith and his fellow woodsmen, who must see that the baby is "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest".

Notable for its star, Lawrence Griffith, who would soon begin unprecedented success as film Director D.W. Griffith. The "special effects" look very phony - and, that baby has incredibly odd looking feet, while in flight! Griffith's final battle with the Eagle is mildly interesting, but there isn't much else here. It might have been a fair film if Edison and company had the bird nesting in a tree cut, or likely to be chopped down, by the woodsmen. Or, they could have made the bird a Vulture…

** Rescued from an Eagle's Nest (1/16/08) J. Searle Dawley ~ D.W. Griffith, Henry B. Walthall, Miss Earle

While J. Searle Dawley had made many shorts and features during the silent era, he's not the reason I included this film in my Early Works of Film Directors series of reviews on this site. In fact, I hadn't even known about him till I looked up this short on this site just now. No, the reason I included this one is because of who the leading actor in this one was: a future director named D. W. Griffith! He was from the theater and had written some plays but his last one was not successful so he submitted a script to the Edison studio which was rejected by the producer from there-one Edwin S. Porter-the same one who had made the innovative and popular The Great Train Robbery several years back. But since Griffith was also an actor, Porter decided to cast him here as a man whose son gets kidnapped by an eagle just as he's working with other men on chopping trees. Porter was also the cinematographer here so there are some pretty good matching of studio and location shots. The model animal isn't too bad especially when it carries the live baby. Some close-ups would have helped especially since it's not easy to recognize the lead actor as Griffith. But this was pretty entertaining for the 7-minute running time. Griffith would appear as extras in other films which would eventually help him prepare for his own directorial debut which happened later in the year he made this one...

I guess the most convincing performance in this early silent drama comes from the baby as it is carried through the air by an eagle. The poor little ankle-biter screams his (or her) lungs out as we see him flying across a dodgy background while in the eagle's clutches. Really gets into the part, she (or he) does. Most everything else about the film is average at best, but at least the plot is easy to follow. Films were still too early for leading men or women to stamp their personality on a role, so it's not really possible to pass an opinion on the performance of D. W. Griffith and his fellow actors, other than to say they are no better or worse than others of the time. The special effects are pretty second rate - even for 1908 - but director J. Searle Darley demonstrates a sound grasp of the techniques that were then available to him.