D.W. Griffith

Filmmakers

David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Widely considered as the most important filmmaker of his generation, he pioneered the feature-length movie and many enduring cinematic techniques, such as the close-up. He worked frequently with actress Lillian Gish. His film The Birth of a Nation (1915) broke box-office records, but also attracted much controversy, as it depicted African Americans in a negative light and glorified the Ku Klux Klan. Intolerance (1916) was made as an answer to his critics.

Several of Griffith’s later films were also successful, including Broken Blossoms (1919), Way Down East (1920) and Orphans of the Storm (1921), but the high costs he incurred for production and promotion often led to commercial failure. He had made roughly 500 films by the time of his final 2 features, Abraham Lincoln (1930), starring Walter Huston; and The Struggle (1931). Together with Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks he founded United Artists, enabling them to control their own interests, rather than depending on commercial studios. Griffith was also a founder member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

• The Adventures of Dollie (1908) – co-director
• The Fight for Freedom (1908)
• The Tavern Keeper’s Daughter (1908)
• The Black Viper (1908)
• The Red Man and the Child (1908)
• Deceived Slumming Party (1908)
• The Bandit’s Waterloo (1908)
• A Calamitous Elopement (1908)
• The Greaser’s Gauntlet (1908)
• The Man and the Woman (1908)
• The Fatal Hour (1908)
• For Love of Gold (1908)
• Balked at the Altar (1908)
• For a Wife’s Honor (1908)
• Betrayed by a Handprint (1908)
• Monday Morning in a Coney Island Police Court (1908)
• The Girl and the Outlaw (1908)
• Behind the Scenes (1908)
• The Red Girl (1908)
• The Heart of O’Yama (1908)
• Where the Breakers Roar (1908)
• A Smoked Husband (1908)
• The Stolen Jewels (1908)
• The Devil (1908)
• The Zulu’s Heart (1908)
• Father Gets in the Game (1908)
• Ingomar, the Barbarian (1908)
• The Vaquero’s Vow (1908)
• The Planter’s Wife (1908)
• Romance of a Jewess (1908)
• The Call of the Wild (1908)
• Concealing a Burglar (1908)
• After Many Years (1908)
• The Pirate’s Gold (1908)
• The Taming of the Shrew (1908)
• The Guerrilla (1908)
• The Song of the Shirt (1908)
• The Ingrate (1908)
• A Woman’s Way (1908)
• The Clubman and the Tramp (1908)
• Money Mad (1908)
• The Valet’s Wife (1908)
• The Feud and the Turkey (1908)
• The Reckoning (1908)
• The Test of Friendship (1908)
• An Awful Moment (1908)
• The Christmas Burglars (1908)
• Mr. Jones at the Ball (1908)
• The Helping Hand (1908)
• The Kentuckian (1908)
• The Rocky Road (1910)
• The Dancing Girl of Butte (1910)
• Her Terrible Ordeal (1910)
• On the Reef (1910)
• The Call (1910)
• The Honor of His Family (1910)
• The Last Deal (1910)
• The Cloister’s Touch (1910)
• The Woman from Mellon’s (1910)
• The Course of True Love (1910)
• The Duke’s Plan (1910)
• One Night and Then (1910)
• The Englishman and the Girl (1910)
• His Last Burglary (1910)
• Taming a Husband (1910)
• The Final Settlement (1910)
• The Newlyweds (1910)
• The Thread of Destiny (1910)
• In Old California (1910)
• The Man (1910)
• The Converts (1910)
• Faithful (1910)
• The Twisted Trail (1910)
• Gold Is Not All (1910)
• The Smoker (1910) – director disputed
• His Last Dollar (1910)
• The Two Brothers (1910)
• As It Is In Life (1910)
• A Rich Revenge (1910)
• A Romance of the Western Hills (1910)
• Thou Shalt Not (1910)
• The Tenderfoot’s Triumph (1910) -director disputed
• The Way of the World (1910)
• Up a Tree (1910) – director disputed
• The Gold Seekers (1910)
• The Unchanging Sea (1910)
• Love Among the Roses (1910)
• Over Silent Paths (1910)
• An Affair of Hearts (1910) – director disputed
• Ramona (1910)
• A Knot in the Plot (1910) – director disputed
• The Impalement (1910)
• In the Season of Buds (1910)
• The Purgation (1910)
• A Child of the Ghetto (1910)
• A Victim of Jealousy (1910)
• In the Border States (1910)
• The Face at the Window (1910)
• Never Again (1910) – director disputed
• May and December (1910) – director disputed
• The Marked Time-Table (1910)
• A Child’s Impulse (1910)
• Muggsy’s First Sweetheart (1910)
• A Midnight Cupid (1910)
• What the Daisy Said (1910)
• A Child’s Faith (1910)
• A Flash of Light (1910)
• Serious Sixteen (1910)
• As the Bells Rang Out! (1910)
• The Call to Arms (1910)
• Unexpected Help (1910)
• An Arcadian Maid (1910)
• Her Father’s Pride (1910)
• The House with Closed Shutters (1910)
• A Salutary Lesson (1910)
• The Usurer (1910)
• An Old Story with a New Ending (1910) – director disputed
• The Sorrows of the Unfaithful (1910)
• Wilful Peggy (1910)
• The Modern Prodigal (1910)
• The Affair of an Egg (1910) – director disputed
• A Summer Idyll (1910)
• Little Angels of Luck (1910)
• A Mohawk’s Way (1910)
• In Life’s Cycle (1910)
• A Summer Tragedy (1910) – director disputed
• The Oath and the Man (1910)
• Rose O’Salem-Town (1910)
• Examination Day at School (1910)
• The Iconoclast (1910)
• That Chink at Golden Gulch (1910)
• The Broken Doll (1910)
• The Banker’s Daughters (1910)
• The Message of the Violin (1910)
• Two Little Waifs (1910)
• Waiter No. 5 (1910)
• The Fugitive (1910)
• Simple Charity (1910)
• Sunshine Sue (1910)
• The Song of the Wildwood Flute (1910)
• His New Lid (1910) – director disputed
• A Plain Song (1910)
• A Child’s Stratagem (1910)
• The Golden Supper (1910)
• His Sister-In-Law (1910)
• The Lesson (1910)
• White Roses (1910) – director disputed
• Winning Back His Love (1910)
• Flaming Arrows (1911)
• The Two Paths (1911)
• When a Man Loves (1911)
• The Italian Barber (1911)
• His Trust (1911)
• His Trust Fulfilled (1911)
• Fate’s Turning (1911)
• The Poor Sick Men (1911) – director disputed
• A Wreath of Orange Blossoms (1911)
• Three Sisters (1911)
• Heart Beats of Long Ago (1911)
• What Shall We Do with Our Old? (1911)
• Fisher Folks (1911)
• The Diamond Star (1911)
• His Daughter (1911)
• The Lily of the Tenements (1911)
• The Heart of a Savage (1911)
• A Decree of Destiny (1911)
• Conscience (1911)
• Was He a Coward? (1911)
• Teaching Dad to Like Her (1911
• The Lonedale Operator (1911)
• The Spanish Gypsy (1911)
• The Broken Cross (1911)
• The Chief’s Daughter (1911)
• Paradise Lost (1911) – director disputed
• Madame Rex (1911)
• A Knight of the Road (1911)
• His Mother’s Scarf (1911)
• How She Triumphed (1911)
• The Two Sides (1911)
• In the Days of ’49 (1911)
• The New Dress (1911)
• The Crooked Road (1911)
• The White Rose of the Wilds (1911)
• A Romany Tragedy (1911)
• The Smile of a Child (1911)
• Enoch Arden: Part I (1911)
• Enoch Arden: Part II (1911)
• The Primal Call (1911)
• Her Sacrifice (1911)
• Fighting Blood (1911)
• The Thief and the Girl (1911)
• The Jealous Husband (1911)
• Bobby, the Coward (1911)
• The Indian Brothers (1911)
• A Country Cupid (1911)
• The Last Drop of Water (1911)
• Out from the Shadow (1911)
• The Ruling Passion (1911)
• The Sorrowful Example (1911)
• The Blind Princess and the Poet (1911)
• The Rose of Kentucky (1911)
• Swords and Hearts (1911)
• The Stuff Heroes Are Made Of (1911)
• The Old Confectioner’s Mistake (1911)
• The Squaw’s Love (1911)
• Dan the Dandy (1911)
• The Revenue Man and the Girl (1911)
• Her Awakening (1911)
• The Making of a Man (1911)
• Italian Blood (1911)
• The Unveiling (1911)
• The Adventures of Billy (1911)
• The Long Road (1911)
• Love in the Hills (1911)
• The Battle (1911)
• The Trail of Books (1911)
• Through Darkened Vales (1911)
• The Miser’s Heart (1911)
• Sunshine Through the Dark (1911)
• A Woman Scorned (1911)
• The Failure (1911)
• Saved from Himself (1911)
• As in a Looking Glass (1911)
• A Terrible Discovery (1911)
• The Voice of the Child (1911)
• Grannie (1912)
• The Baby and the Stork (1912)
• A Tale of the Wilderness (1912)
• The Eternal Mother (1912)
• The Old Bookkeeper (1912)
• For His Son (1912)
• A Blot on the ‘Scutcheon (1912)
• The Transformation of Mike (1912)
• A Sister’s Love (1912)
• Billy’s Stratagem (1912)
• The Mender of Nets (1912)
• Under Burning Skies (1912)
• The Sunbeam (1912)
• A Siren of Impulse (1912)
• A String of Pearls (1912)
• The Girl and Her Trust (1912)
• Iola’s Promise (1912)
• The Root of Evil (1912)
• The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch (1912)
• The Punishment (1912)
• Fate’s Interception (1912)
• The Female of the Species (1912)
• Just Like a Woman (1912)
• One Is Business, the Other Crime (1912)
• The Lesser Evil (1912)
• The Old Actor (1912)
• A Lodging for the Night (1912)
• His Lesson (1912)
• When Kings Were the Law (1912)
• A Beast at Bay (1912)
• An Outcast Among Outcasts (1912)
• Home Folks (1912)
• A Temporary Truce (1912)
• Lena and the Geese (1912)
• The Spirit Awakened (1912)
• The School Teacher and the Waif (1912)
• Man’s Lust for Gold (1912)
• An Indian Summer (1912)
• Man’s Genesis (1912)
• Heaven Avenges (1912)
• The Sands of Dee (1912)
• Black Sheep (1912)
• The Narrow Road (1912)
• A Child’s Remorse (1912)
• The Inner Circle (1912)
• A Change of Spirit (1912)
• A Pueblo Romance (1912
• A Pueblo Legend (1912)
• In the North Woods (1912)
• An Unseen Enemy (1912)
• Blind Love (1912)
• Two Daughters of Eve (1912)
• Friends (1912)
• So Near, yet So Far (1912)
• A Feud in the Kentucky Hills (1912)
• The Chief’s Blanket (1912)
• In the Aisles of the Wild (1911)
• The One She Loved (1912)
• The Painted Lady (1912)
• The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912)
• Heredity (1912)
• Gold and Glitter (1912)
• My Baby (1912)
• The Informer (1912)
• Brutality (1912)
• The New York Hat (1912)
• My Hero (1912)
• The Burglar’s Dilemma (1912)
• A Cry for Help (1912)
• The God Within (1912)
• Three Friends (1913)
• The Telephone Girl and the Lady (1913)
• An Adventure in the Autumn Woods (1913)
• The Tender Hearted Boy (1913)
• A Misappropriated Turkey (1913)
• Brothers (1913)
• Oil and Water 1913)
• Drink’s Lure (1913)
• A Chance Deception (1913)
• Love in an Apartment Hotel (1913)
• Broken Ways (1913)
• A Girl’s Stratagem (1913)
• The Unwelcome Guest (1913)
• Near to Earth (1913)
• Fate (1913)
• A Welcome Intruder (1913)
• The Sheriff’s Baby (1913)
• The Hero of Little Italy (1913)
• The Perfidy of Mary (1913)
• The Little Tease (1913)
• A Misunderstood Boy (1913)
• The Left-Handed Man (1913)
• The Lady and the Mouse (1913)
• If We Only Knew (1913)
• The Wanderer (1913)
• The Stolen Loaf (1913)
• The House of Darkness (1913)
• The Yaqui Cur (1913)
• Just Gold (1913)
• His Mother’s Son (1913)
• The Ranchero’s Revenge (1913)
• A Timely Interception (1913)
• Death’s Marathon (1913)
• The Mothering Heart (1913)
• Her Mother’s Oath (1913)
• The Sorrowful Shore (1913)
• The Reformers; or, The Lost Art of Minding One’s Business (1913)
• The Enemy’s Baby (1913)
• The Mistake (1913)
• The Coming of Angelo (1913)
• Two Men of the Desert (1913)
• The Adopted Brother (1913)
• Madonna of the Storm (1913)
• The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (1913)
• The Conscience of Hassan Bey (1913)
• Waifs (1914)
• The Massacre (1914)
• Judith of Bethulia (1914)
• The Battle of the Sexes (1914)
• The Great Leap: Until Death Do Us Part (1914)
• Brute Force (1914)
• Home, Sweet Home (1914)
• The Escape (1914)
• The Avenging Conscience: or ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’ (1914)
• The Dishonored Medal (1914)
• The Birth of a Nation (1915)
• A Day with Governor Whitman (1916)
• Intolerance (1916)
• Hearts of the World (1918)
• The Great Love (1918)
• Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal (1918)
• The Greatest Thing in Life (1918)
• The World of Columbus (1919)
• A Romance of Happy Valley (1919)
• The Girl Who Stayed at Home (1919)
• Broken Blossoms (1919)
• True Heart Susie (1919)
• The Fall of Babylon (1919) – re-edited version of said sequence from Intolerance
• The Mother and the Law (1919) – re-edited version of said sequence from Intolerance
• Scarlet Days (1919)
• The Greatest Question (1919)
• The Idol Dancer (1920)
• Remodeling Her Husband (1920)
• The Love Flower (1920)
• Way Down East (1920)
• Dream Street (1921)
• Orphans of the Storm (1921)
• One Exciting Night (1922)
• Mammy’s Boy (1922) – unfinished, remade as His Darker Self in 1924
• America (1924)
• Isn’t Life Wonderful (1924)
• Sally of the Sawdust (1925)
• That Royale Gril (1925)
• The Sorrows of Satan
• Topsy and Eva (1927) – uncredited director of addiational scenes
• Drums of Love (1928)
• The Battle of the Sexes (1928)
• Lady of the Pavements (1929)
• Abraham Lincoln (1930) -first sound film
• The Struggle (1931)