The Lonedale Operator

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.

This little movie follows the same structure and tropes of most of D. W. Griffith shorts of this era. These shorts often feel dated and very melodramatic from today's point of view, which is understandable. However, there is something about this particular movie that makes it standout from the rest.

In my opinion, Blanche Sweet does a great job in this role. Given the acting style of the early 1910s, Sweet's performance feels more modern than most. Her performance adds to the pace of the movie, which is nicely achieved.

In my opinion, I would take out the "romance" tag for this movie and add the "action" one. To sum up, a nice 17 minutes watch readily available in YouTube, some uploads incorporate music score which makes the experience much better.

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.

Wow. It's hard to believe that Miss Blanche Sweet was fifteen when she was directed by the great D.W. Griffith in this Biograph production from 1911. Blanche, at such an early age, was not only extremely mature in terms her physique and baring, she was a remarkably accomplished actress. Her naturalistic acting translates well with modern audiences (at leased with all my friends to whom I've shown this movie). This film is a good one, suspenceful and atmospheric, but it's definatly not the best of Griffith's Biographs. It ranks pretty highly with the other work of his that I've seen. It is certainly aided by Sweet's performance, and also helpful the exemplary early use of "montage" which Griffith had been putting to use in his films as early as 1909. For a peak at what a great man like Griffith was doing before he made The Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916) and Way Down East (1920), this is certainly one to take a good look or two at, just to get a peak at what the future had in store for cinema history.

This D. W. Griffith short involves a young woman whose father is the telegraph operator in a relatively remote place. Her boyfriend is a railroad engineer. When she takes over the key (the telegraph key), she becomes responsible for a large payroll shipment. Unfortunately, a couple of no-goods want the money and they are going to break into the telegraph shack and steal it from her. The plots revolves around how long she can forestall these men until her engineer boyfriend can bring the train back and rescue her. There is an interesting twist that is pretty satisfying.