US © 1908 American Mutoscope & Biograph Company.
Dir: D. W. Griffith. Story: ?. Photog: Arthur Marvin. Cast: Charles Inslee, Harry Solter, George Gebhardt, Linda Arvidson, Arthur Johnson.
Filmed: 28.7, 30.7.1908 (NY Studio; Fort Lee, New Jersey). Rel: 28.8.1908.
Copy: DCP (4K), 8'26" (from paper print, 474 ft, 15 fps); titles: ENG. Source: Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, Packard Campus, Culpeper, VA.
Film Preservation Society (FPS) / Tracey Goessel / digital scan 2017. Given the absence of original intertitles, new ones have been written by the Film Preservation Society.
43rd Le Giornate del Cinema Muto (GCM), Pordenone: Early Cinema - The Biograph Project.
Grand piano: Günter Buchwald.
Viewed at Teatro Verdi with e-subtitles in Italian, 8 Oct 2024
There is no credit information in the film itself, just the title card with the year of copyright and the name and the address of the American Mutoscope & Biograph Company, like in The Adventures of Dollie.
Tracey Goessel (GCM/FPS The Biograph Project 2024): "This improbable little melodrama was Griffith’s twelfth release, and shows signs of the stutter-step evolution of his style. He is beginning to show the audience what is simultaneously happening in two separate spaces: an outer hallway and an inner room – with a locked door intervening. But his geography is spatially illogical. Characters in the inner room exit to screen right, but do not emerge into the contiguous area on screen left. Instead, they enter screen right, giving us a flipped view of the space. Possibly this came from the theatrical tradition. If an actor exited stage right, he would probably re-enter from the same direction. Or, Griffith might not have been empowered to direct the setup of the flats so early in his career."
"Presumably audiences were able to mentally make the adaptation, but it feels wrong. It is a mistake that we will sporadically see in future Biographs, but it will become rarer. By the time he makes The Lonely Villa in 1909, his mastery of adjoining spaces will be not only technically correct, but will be employed to effective dramatic use."
AA: An intricate storyline packed into eight and a half minutes. Like Cooper Graham, I fail to understand what the "Krameresque type" mentioned in the Biograph Bulletin means. But For a Wife's Honor has a density and a final sacrifice twist like in Boccaccio's falcon story. The film flashes by too fast to build momentum and have a truly devastating impact. Cooper Graham observes that after having progressed to his first close-up in his previous films, Griffith now retreats to long shots.
I am impressed by the fatalism of the clean composition of the interiors and the stability of the camera recording the fast moving action.
...
I saw For a Wife's Honor in GCM's Griffith Project (DWG 40), mattino 14 October 1997 at Ridotto del Verdi on 16 mm /15 fps/ 8 min without intertitles and Neil Brand at the piano. I was impressed by the overdone gesticulation.
Moving Picture World synopsis from the Biograph Bulletin, No. 165, August 28 1908: "STORY OF A TRUE FRIEND'S SACRIFICE. The Biograph in this subject presents a picture of the Krameresque type. The plot is most interesting and lucid, and the situations intensely stirring."
"Irving Robertson, a successful playwright, has just received a message from out of town to witness the initial performance of one of his plays. As he is about to leave, Henderson, the manager, calls to pay a sum due him for royalties."
"At the same time, Frank Wilson, a friend of the family, drops in. Henderson hands over to Robertson several thousand dollars and departs. He places the money temporarily in his desk and prepares for his journey, excusing himself to Wilson, at the same time begging him to make himself at home, he departs."
"Now with the family there was employed a French maid, whose carelessness just before this scene, incurred the displeasure of Mrs. Robertson, who discharged her. Wilson is a bank cashier and has fallen into the error of so many of his kind. As his peculations are detected, and well-grounded rumors already rife, he comes to ask the wise counsel of his friends. Robertson having departed, Wilson hesitatingly unburdens his mind to Mrs. Robertson, who, of course, is amazed at his recital."
"While they are engaged in whispered conversation, the maid, who has packed her belongings to leave, peeks in. An idea strikes her: a chance too good to lose, so she noiselessly reverses the key in the door and locks it from the outside, thus leaving the couple prisoners. Out of the house she rushes to overtake Robertson, which she does at the next corner. Loud and impressive are her defamations, which not only arouse the jealousy of the husband, but curiosity of the passersby as well."
"Back to the house dashes Robertson and upon finding the door locked, the maid's story seems only too true. Inside the room consternation had at first seized the couple, and then the wife accuses Wilson of duplicity: "No, no! Not that! I'm not as low as that, but we must think, and think quickly. Ah! Go into that room." The wife does as he commands and Wilson makes for the desk, bursts it open and is taking the money as Robertson, in a frenzy, crashes into the room."
"He stops short at the scene that greets his sight. There is his wife, whom he had for the moment doubted, coming from her room, and his most cherished friend standing over the wrecked desk with the implicating bank notes still in his hand. For an instant all seemed paralyzed: then from the husband: "Go." Wilson, with bowed head, leaves. He has chosen to hurl himself into the slough of degradation to save the honor of his friend's wife."—Moving Picture World synopsis from the Biograph Bulletin, No. 165, August 28 1908.
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