Griffith's better-known pieces are either epics or melodramas, but he also turned out a fair number of comedies in his more than 500 pictures, both of the running-around-in-weird-costume farce variety that was later taken up by Mack Sennett (Sennett was, at this time, an actor and writer in Griffith's troupe) such as THE CURTAIN POLE, and in more realistic social comedies such as this.
SPOILERS BELOW
Griffith's use of camera movement and timing is, as usual, exquisite, and the two long comic takes work very amusingly. Griffith realized, as Sennett never seemed to get clear, that action that takes place offscreen, leaving only the reactions of the observers to guide the audience, can be much funnier than watching someone on screen. Thus, when the politician discovers that the satirical cartoonist who has caricatured him is actually a beautiful woman, he decides not to shoot her, and disappears offscreen. He has not put away the gun, judging by the way the newspaper staff is behaving. Having the threat of a loaded gun being waved about placed offscreen mutes the threat and makes the scene play funnier.
Highly recommended.
SPOILERS BELOW
Griffith's use of camera movement and timing is, as usual, exquisite, and the two long comic takes work very amusingly. Griffith realized, as Sennett never seemed to get clear, that action that takes place offscreen, leaving only the reactions of the observers to guide the audience, can be much funnier than watching someone on screen. Thus, when the politician discovers that the satirical cartoonist who has caricatured him is actually a beautiful woman, he decides not to shoot her, and disappears offscreen. He has not put away the gun, judging by the way the newspaper staff is behaving. Having the threat of a loaded gun being waved about placed offscreen mutes the threat and makes the scene play funnier.
Highly recommended.
