Rescued from an Eagle's Nest

In terms of quality, this is a pretty uneven feature, but it is certainly interesting. The story creates some good suspense, and although it seems pretty far-fetched, it was said to have been based, at least in part, on an actual incident. Some significant parts of the story rely heavily on special effects that do not hold up very well by later standards, yet they do tell the story clearly.

This movie might be best known now for the very early screen appearance of D.W. Griffith, as the father whose child is carried away by the eagle. His performance is at least adequate for its time, as are those of the rest of the cast.

The movie uses several sequences of visual effects to depict the eagle's capture of the child, and its subsequent conflict with Griffith. As was often the case in movies by Edwin S. Porter and other Edison film-makers, the emphasis is on making it clear what is happening, rather than on striving for a completely seamless or convincing effect. This makes the special effects look very unconvincing now, but to their original audience, they probably looked a lot better.

This seems to have been a pretty ambitious effort for its day, and even if it does not look very impressive now, it has enough interesting aspects to be worth watching.

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...

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.

The lesson learned: Don't leave babies where eagles can steal them. This is a pretty ambitious little film with D.W. Griffith the hero. I did enjoy the fight with the eagle on the cliff and the weirdness of the baby being carried by an eagle barely flapping its wings. I'm sure expectations were pretty low and this satisfied the viewing public pretty well.