The Lonedale Operator

A movie like this could only get away with a 7-out-of-10 rating today, considering its popularity at the time and its historical significance as a D.W.Griffith experience.

This short details a young girl who is operating a train stop when some bandits, or miscreants, or something, begin to threaten her. As she tries to hold them at bay, a train operator comes to the rescue.

Even by today's standards, the cutting of the film makes it relatively intense. Griffith claimed he invented a lot of techniques that he didn't, but perhaps the one thing it cannot be argued he invented is a director's style (auteurship). Early films didn't even have credits attached, and yet audiences recognized a Griffith film anyways.

The same holds today. This is a Griffith film, by and large. Whether it's worth the search to find and watch depends on your interest of the era, Griffith, or maybe silent films as a whole. Otherwise this film is nothing more than a research tool for film classes and cinephiles.

--PolarisDiB

If you were curious about train stations circa 1911, then "The Lonedale Operator" gives us a glimpse. "The Lonedale Operator" had love, technology, crime, and heroism.

The two lovebirds and stars were the Operator's Daughter (Blanche Sweet) and the Engineer (Francis J. Grandon). The Operator's Daughter had to take over operating duties for her sick father. Operating a train station, as was shown in this movie, was sending and receiving telegraphs and exchanging incoming and outgoing packages with the train.

The Operator's Daughter found herself in trouble when two thieves had her trapped and were attempting to break in and steal payroll money from the mining company. It was suspense and drama in the Lonedale train station.

Free on YouTube.

This film, nicely preserved with tints, is part of the "Treasures" 4-disc DVD set from the American Film Archives. It captures DW Griffith in the middle of his stint at American Biograph, and it demonstrates his developing skill with montage. I'm fond of Lonedale because it captures day-to-day life in a bygone era (for example, the secretary operating an early typewriter and the operation of steam locomotives).

The performances are by necessity done in broad strokes. Blanche Sweet, then a very mature-looking 15-year-old plays the story's heroine who bluffs her way out of a sticky situation.

This film is one of the highlights of the Treasures DVD set.

This is a very good drama with a fine performance by Blanche Sweet who, almost unbelievably, was only 15 at the time. If D.W. Griffith had not remade it the following year (as the fine feature "The Girl and Her Trust), then Sweet and "The Lonedale Operator" might be better remembered.

The story is very similar to that in the better-known remake, with Sweet playing the daughter of a telegraph operator, who takes over when her father becomes ill, only to find herself thrust into a highly dangerous situation. The scenario was written by Mack Sennett, which makes it very interesting to imagine Sennett and the somber Griffith working together. It's surprisingly tight, and only a funny bit at the end (which works well) breaks the tension.

If you've seen and enjoyed the remake, this one is also well worth watching. It's less complex, but it's quite good in its own right. Sweet gives the heroine a different nature than does Dorothy Bernard in the remake, and both of them are quite good in the role, with no need at all to choose one or the other as the 'best' of the two performances.

Blanche Sweet stars in this film from 1911 by D. W. Griffith made for Biograph. Considering it was made in 1911, and Griffith's techniques weren't quite as advanced, it is very good. However, only a year later, Griffith remade his movie in a 15 minute short for Biograph, and the remake, I have to say, is more refined in techniques. There is essentially more cutting and the pacing is a lot faster (the beginning to this one starts slow). Griffith was probably looking at this film a year later and thinking, "I could've done better. Say, how about doing a remake of this one? And how about a chase towards the end by locomotive?" Thus "The Girl and Her Trust", the aforementioned remake, was filmed.

Now to the comparison. What makes this film not as advanced? Well, no chasing the tramps when they escape with the money. In fact, in here they don't even escape with the money at all. The shots of the interior of the locomotive look cool, but no tracking shot of the outside of the locomotive. That's another memorable thing in the remake. Plenty of cross-cutting, but the tramps peeking through the window bit is not drawn out as long and there isn't as much of that. Griffith was still learning when he made it, but it is still pretty good, and is certainly worthwhile for any Griffith fan. Even though the director became famous for "Birth of a Nation" and "Intolerance", short features like this show how advanced Griffith was with film editing.