Product Details

• Actors: Charles West, Claire McDowell, Mary Pickford, Dorothy Bernard
• Directors: D.W. Griffith
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Kino Video
• VHS Release Date: November 11, 1998
• Run Time: 17 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 6304192576
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #385,532 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thought-provoking and interesting collection, April 14, 2005

By 

Barbara (Burkowsky) Underwood (Tumut, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Biograph Shorts 3: Female of the Species [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This excellent collection of 6 short silent films, each averaging around 15 minutes, is a real pleasure to watch, and it leaves you thinking about the statements made in each short subject. They were directed by D W Griffith, who has become known as the `Father of Film' for his pioneering work in the early film industry, and before directing his famous and controversial first grand feature, "The Birth of a Nation" in 1915, he was very prolific in his work for the Biograph Company. During those years he directed many short films, most of them serious and containing a message directed at the audience. He envisaged films to be not merely for entertainment but as an important medium to educate society, in the hope of bring about positive changes. This collection is a good sample of some of these `social commentary' short films from the years 1909 to 1913. The topics range from the sad plight of the native American Indian, the heart-wrenching fate of old people without the means to sustain themselves, drug addiction and musical therapy for the mentally ill.

The picture quality is excellent throughout, as we might expect from Kino Video, and the musical accompaniment, especially for the first two shorts, is also very impressive. There are easy-to-read title cards during each film which introduce the events of the next few scenes, and good, expressive acting, making these shorts pleasant viewing even for those unfamiliar with such early films. For me personally, the highlights of this collection are "What Shall We Do With Our Old?" based on an actual occurrence in New York City where lack of money for food and medicine resulted in sad consequences for an elderly couple. A compassionate judge looks into the case, and no doubt it was cases like this that led to the structure of pensions, welfare and care for the aged. Then I found "For His Son" particularly fascinating for its story about a doctor pursuing wealth by making a soft drink containing cocaine and calling it `Dopokoke'- believe it or not! No doubt this is based in fact, since a doctor did indeed make a tonic using derivatives from the coca plant which became known as Coca-cola, and rumours still persist today that it originally contained cocaine. But unlike real life today, drinkers of Dopokoke became cocaine addicts, including the son of the doctor who invented it. And lastly, I particularly enjoyed "The House of Darkness", which is a mental asylum where the chance discovery is made that good music has beneficial effects on the mentally disturbed; a fact recognized and still used in therapy today. Despite being nearly a century old, these short dramas are still powerful, impressive and thought-provoking, and although many Griffith and Biograph Shorts are available elsewhere and on DVD collections, this tape contains quite a few currently not found elsewhere together in this nice presentation.