D. W. Griffith: Mr. Jones at the Ball (1908) 2020 digital restoration Film Preservation Society

D. W. Griffith: Mr. Jones at the Ball (US 1908).

MR. JONES AT THE BALL (US 1908) dir: D. W. Griffith. story: ?. photog: G. W. Bitzer. cast: John C. Cumpson, Florence Lawrence, Harry Solter, Mack Sennett, Arthur Johnson, George Gebhardt, Charles Inslee, Jeannie MacPherson. prod: American Mutoscope & Biograph Company. filmed: 23/24.09.1908 (NY Studio). rel: 25.12.1908. copy: DCP, 8'37" (from paper print, 503 ft., 15 fps); titles: ENG. source: Film Preservation Society, Los Angeles (DCP); Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, Packard Campus, Culpeper, VA (paper print). Digital restoration, scanning: 2022. Intertitles written by Film Preservation Society. 

     Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, Pordenone 2026: The Biograph Project.

    Grand piano: Philip Carli.

    Viewed at Teatro Verdi, 3 Oct 2026

Tracey Goessel (GCM 2026): "Here we have the first official “Jones” comedy: a single joke gag built around split trousers and the antics that ensue at a dress ball. The story itself is scarcely worthy of comment. But, as always, small pleasures can be found. Look for the hint of a secret affair between a guest and the welcoming hostess. Wince at the man in blackface acting the part of coat-check clerk – is his wig the same one used by Alfred Paget four years later in A Beast at Bay? Look out the window next to Mack Sennett’s footman in the ballroom – is that not the same painted flat from A Smoked Husband? And isn’t it Mack we see, both as footman and, in the final shot, policeman? If it is cinematic artistry you seek, you will not find it here. But you will find a wealth of small details that will bring you back to a late autumn day in 1908. Even in this minor charmer, it is a journey worth taking."

AA: One might call Mr. Jones at the Ball a case of the "slight narrative". Out of almost nothing, Griffith creates a wild choreography of slapstick action. It is almost breathlessly fast, and the choreography is always assured when the characters criss-cross at an amazing speed. Bear and ice-bear rugs are an amusing element as later in Chaplin's comedy shorts. Mack Sennett who appears among the cast may have been inspired.