Griffith Masterworks 2 [5 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Box set contains Abraham Lincoln, The Struggle, Sally Of The Sawdust, The Avenging Conscience, Way Down East, D.W. Griffith: Father Of Film

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 5
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Screen: Color

AWARDS

• New York Times

•     Won 10 Best Films - 1930

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Carol Dempster - Sally
       Kay Hammond - Mary Todd Lincoln
       Alfred Lunt - Peyton Lennox
       Burr McIntosh - Squire Bartlett
       Creighton Hale - Prof. Sterling
       Charles Hammond - Mr. Lennox, Sr.
       Frank Campeau - Gen. Sheridan
       Florence Fair - Miss Vinton
       Emily Fitzroy - Maria Poole
       Blanche Sweet - His sweetheart

• Director:

  D.W. Griffith, Kevin Brownlow, David Gill

• Producer:

  D.W. Griffith, Kevin Brownlow, David Gill

• Screenwriter:

  Stephen Vincent Benét, Gerrit J. Lloyd, Forrest Halsey

• Play Author:

  Dorothy Donnelly

• Screenwriter:

  D.W. Griffith, Anthony Paul Kelly

• Play Author:

  Lottie Blair Parker

• Screenwriter:

  Kevin Brownlow, David Gill

• Cinematographer:

  Karl Struss, Harry A. Fischbeck, Hal Sintzenich, Billy Bitzer, Karl Brown, Hendrik Sartov, G.W. Blitzer

• Composer (Music Score):

  Hugo Riesenfeld, Donald Sosin, Louis Silvers, William Frederick Peters, Carl Davis, Philip Appleby, Nic Raine

• Editor:

  John W. Considine, Jr., James Smith, Hal Kern, Rose Smith

• Production Designer:

  Charles Kirk

• Art Director:

  William Cameron Menzies, Charles Osborne Seessel

• Associate Producer:

  Patrick Stanbury

• Set Designer:

  William Cameron Menzies

• First Assistant Director:

  Erville Alderson, Frank Walsh, Herbert Sutch

• Musical Performer:

  Donald Sosin

REVIEW:

• Released on DVD in a crisp and clear restored version, D.W. Griffith's slightly altered screen version of Broadway star Dorothy Donnelly's circus comedy drama Poppy is, truth be told, far too much Carol Dempster. A singularly unattractive actress whom Griffith unaccountably doted on (a la Susan Alexander), Dempster is allowed to hog the camera at every opportunity. This, sadly, takes attention away from her co-star W.C. Fields, who performs -- or attempts to perform, if only the smitten Griffith hadn't let his camera wander back to Dempster -- several of his legendary routines, including "The Old Army Game," and all too-brief examples of his famed juggling dexterity. Alfred Lunt, who was starring opposite wife Lynn Fontanne in their greatest hit, The Guardsman, at the time, plays Dempster's love interest, but is as colorless as she. As in the original 1923 Broadway production of Poppy, it is in the end left to Fields to fill the many gaps, which he does in his inimitable way while proving what a fine silent comedian he really was. Although he would repeat his McGargle role in the 1936 sound remake of Poppy (and variations of him in several other comedies), Sally of the Sawdust remains historically important as a showcase for the younger and more adroit W.C. Fields in his Ziegfeld Follies period. Watch for plug-ugly William "Shorty" Blanche, Fields' longtime stage partner, performing his "stooge" routine. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi