The Girls and Daddy (1909) User Reviews

A bizarrely titled home invasion thriller

[MissSimonetta · 5/10 · 2 May 2024]

With a title like THE GIRLS AND DADDY, you would probably expect a heartwarming, gooey family film and not a home invasion flick with racist overtones, but here we are.

THE GIRLS AND DADDY is about two teenage girls left home alone who find themselves at the mercy of two burglars, one white and one black. The white one is moved by their fresh innocence and ceases his attempted robbery. The black one (played in blackface) is not so swayed and seems to have more than burglary on the brain, in the usual DW Griffith villain fashion.

The fine details of the story are unclear from the surviving print. I had to consult the short's entry in The Griffith Project to see what I missed-- apparently the girls are reaching out to their grandmother to help their impoverished father. The money coveted by the crooks was from the grandmother.

Visually, the film has some striking moments. Rather than cross-cutting between the villains and would-be victims, Griffith keeps all the action in single frames. The one moment that stands out involves the teen girls hiding behind a door while the black burglar tries breaking it down. Rather than cutting from one side of the door to the other, both are kept in frame, creating a split screen effect.

Historically-- both as a document of early cinema and as a snapshot of the casual racism of the era-- THE GIRLS AND DADDY is fascinating, but it's certainly no masterpiece. But if you're a student of film history, definitely check it out.

The Scaffolding of Intruders

[wes-connors · 3/10 · 5 November 2007]

Daddy's girls Florence Lawrence and Dorothy West receive some terrific news at the local post office, unaware they are being stalked by burglar Charles Inslee. Meanwhile, father David Miles receives a message (from young Robert Harron) which necessitates daddy leaving home; so, when the young women return, they can be… home alone. As the vulnerable pair bed down for the evening, the local "Grand Ball of the Black and Tans" gets underway; and, a dark-skinned drinker portends additional danger for D.W. Griffith's dynamic duo…

Mr. Inslee has one of his better Biograph roles, stealing the film from "The Girls and Daddy". Ironically, Director Griffith appears as one of the black-faced extras at the "Black and Tans" ball. "Biograph Girls" Lawrence and West are suggestive of later "Griffith Girls" Lillian and Dorothy Gish, especially in "Orphans of the Storm" (1921); and, they are excessively affectionate in bed! The racist tone is unfortunate, since the story of a burglar redeemed by saving his potential victims from a greater danger, is intriguing.

*** The Girls and Daddy (2/1/09) D.W. Griffith ~ Florence Lawrence, Dorothy West, Charles Inslee

Interesting More as a Historical Record Than Anything Else

[Snow Leopard · 22 November 2004]

This is not necessarily a bad short feature, but its interest as a movie is rather less than its value as a historical record. That's because it survives as two distinct prints, one of which is the finished movie, and the other of which preserves the scenes in the order that they were filmed, allowing the viewer to, in a sense, see D.W. Griffith at work.

The movie itself is about average, though it has some obvious flaws. Most of the individual sequences are filmed well enough, but the story as a whole does not always flow, since it leaves some of the details obscured. You can still follow the important steps in the action, though. The story is mildly interesting, with some moments of tension, but at the cost of lessened credibility, in that there are too many coincidences for them not to become noticeable.

The alternate print is interesting because it shows Griffith's strategy of filming, including his concern with things such as settings and details, camera angles, and the like. Griffith often gets more credit for innovation than is probably actually due him, since other film-makers came up with some of the same or similar ideas as he did, but instances like this show how systematic Griffith was, and in that respect he may well have stood out among the directors of the time.

Early Biograph film a key study piece

[udave · 19 December 1998]

This otherwise ordinary family comedy would be routine if it didn't exist in two versions, both of which were copyrighted as paper prints. The first version consists of the one-reeler as shot; the other as edited. Through comparison of the two versions it is clear that D.W. Griffith was already setting up his films out of sequence in order to save time, achieve more fluid storytelling and camera angles. What is today a basic requirement for filmmaking was new in Griffith's time, and in this film we can see it in action.

Griffith one reeler.

[Mozjoukine · 13 July 2007]

This unremarkable Griffith quarter hour melo is notable mainly for the version which reaches us, where what appear to be the rejected takes have been place on the front of the finished film, presumably to outwit any determined bootlegger. The Biograph logo on the decors pre-figures the irritating trade marks contemporary broadcasters and video makers use - curse them.

Without documentation it is hard to derive much information from the extra shots. Much of the the finished film is not represented, presumably filmed in a single take. The most revealing section is the scene of the good burglar pondering by the bedside of the sleeping daughters, with him given more business in the finished film. The edited version contains the double actions on opening doors, which seems inexplicable.