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Wow. It's hard to believe that Miss Blanche Sweet was fifteen when she was directed by the great D.W. Griffith in this Biograph production from 1911. Blanche, at such an early age, was not only extremely mature in terms her physique and baring, she was a remarkably accomplished actress. Her naturalistic acting translates well with modern audiences (at leased with all my friends to whom I've shown this movie). This film is a good one, suspenceful and atmospheric, but it's definatly not the best of Griffith's Biographs. It ranks pretty highly with the other work of his that I've seen. It is certainly aided by Sweet's performance, and also helpful the exemplary early use of "montage" which Griffith had been putting to use in his films as early as 1909. For a peak at what a great man like Griffith was doing before he made The Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916) and Way Down East (1920), this is certainly one to take a good look or two at, just to get a peak at what the future had in store for cinema history.

This little movie follows the same structure and tropes of most of D. W. Griffith shorts of this era. These shorts often feel dated and very melodramatic from today's point of view, which is understandable. However, there is something about this particular movie that makes it standout from the rest.

In my opinion, Blanche Sweet does a great job in this role. Given the acting style of the early 1910s, Sweet's performance feels more modern than most. Her performance adds to the pace of the movie, which is nicely achieved.

In my opinion, I would take out the "romance" tag for this movie and add the "action" one. To sum up, a nice 17 minutes watch readily available in YouTube, some uploads incorporate music score which makes the experience much better.

This is a very good drama with a fine performance by Blanche Sweet who, almost unbelievably, was only 15 at the time. If D.W. Griffith had not remade it the following year (as the fine feature "The Girl and Her Trust), then Sweet and "The Lonedale Operator" might be better remembered.

The story is very similar to that in the better-known remake, with Sweet playing the daughter of a telegraph operator, who takes over when her father becomes ill, only to find herself thrust into a highly dangerous situation. The scenario was written by Mack Sennett, which makes it very interesting to imagine Sennett and the somber Griffith working together. It's surprisingly tight, and only a funny bit at the end (which works well) breaks the tension.

If you've seen and enjoyed the remake, this one is also well worth watching. It's less complex, but it's quite good in its own right. Sweet gives the heroine a different nature than does Dorothy Bernard in the remake, and both of them are quite good in the role, with no need at all to choose one or the other as the 'best' of the two performances.

A movie like this could only get away with a 7-out-of-10 rating today, considering its popularity at the time and its historical significance as a D.W.Griffith experience.

This short details a young girl who is operating a train stop when some bandits, or miscreants, or something, begin to threaten her. As she tries to hold them at bay, a train operator comes to the rescue.

Even by today's standards, the cutting of the film makes it relatively intense. Griffith claimed he invented a lot of techniques that he didn't, but perhaps the one thing it cannot be argued he invented is a director's style (auteurship). Early films didn't even have credits attached, and yet audiences recognized a Griffith film anyways.

The same holds today. This is a Griffith film, by and large. Whether it's worth the search to find and watch depends on your interest of the era, Griffith, or maybe silent films as a whole. Otherwise this film is nothing more than a research tool for film classes and cinephiles.

--PolarisDiB

If you were curious about train stations circa 1911, then "The Lonedale Operator" gives us a glimpse. "The Lonedale Operator" had love, technology, crime, and heroism.

The two lovebirds and stars were the Operator's Daughter (Blanche Sweet) and the Engineer (Francis J. Grandon). The Operator's Daughter had to take over operating duties for her sick father. Operating a train station, as was shown in this movie, was sending and receiving telegraphs and exchanging incoming and outgoing packages with the train.

The Operator's Daughter found herself in trouble when two thieves had her trapped and were attempting to break in and steal payroll money from the mining company. It was suspense and drama in the Lonedale train station.

Free on YouTube.

The Lonedale Operator, which is about a young daughter of a rail operator (not on the train, at the nearby station) and how she has to fill in for her sick father (this after an opening where she, uh, flirts with some guy or something, I'm not sure), a couple of thieves plot to steal from the train and so she has to defend herself, albeit fainting for part of the time while the train has to deal with no operator.

It gets good in the second half, when the story actually fully kicks in and Blanche Sweet's fill-in train operator has to fend off a couple of thieves trying to break in (once again with Griffith, like the Lonely Villa and some other shorts he did with this theme of invasion). Sweet's wonderful, but the pacing felt off for me. Not one of the best nor worst, The Lonedale Operator, which features some fine color-tinting for some shots, is OKAY.

Cinema hadn't quite seen the rapidity of edits in a movie as contained in Biograph Studio's March 1911 "The Lonedale Operator." Cross-cutting between two separate scenes, director D.W. Griffith used over 100 edits, an unusual amount of cuts during that time.

"The Lonedale Operator" begins lazily with long sequences, showing the love interest of Blanche Sweet and her train engineer boyfriend. She eventually fills in for her ailing father, the train station's telegraph operator. During late afternoon, a train arrives with a pouch full of money for the local mine's payroll. There's no secure safe to place the money in, but not to worry since the train station is relatively isolated with no one around, except for two drifters who have followed the payroll as it leaves the train into the hands of the Lonedale Operator.

As the film proceeds, Griffith quickens the pace of his edits as he juxtapositions between two separate plots: the robbery and the rescue, where the train with her engineer boyfriend is miles away. The video link below provides an explanation on what cross-cutting, or parallel editing, is all about as Griffith employs the technique to amp up the suspense.

"The Lonedale Operator" is also notable for a rare closeup of a prop, pivotal to the story. It wasn't the first cinematic closeup, as several articles allude to, but it was one of the first that provided a bit of comedy relief after such a harrowing story had unfolded.

Lastly, this was one of the first films Blanche Sweet appeared in. She was a very successful silent movie actress throughout the 1910's and 1920's. But Ms. Sweet could not make the transition into sound films, playing in only three before she retired from Hollywood.

This D. W. Griffith short involves a young woman whose father is the telegraph operator in a relatively remote place. Her boyfriend is a railroad engineer. When she takes over the key (the telegraph key), she becomes responsible for a large payroll shipment. Unfortunately, a couple of no-goods want the money and they are going to break into the telegraph shack and steal it from her. The plots revolves around how long she can forestall these men until her engineer boyfriend can bring the train back and rescue her. There is an interesting twist that is pretty satisfying.

This film, nicely preserved with tints, is part of the "Treasures" 4-disc DVD set from the American Film Archives. It captures DW Griffith in the middle of his stint at American Biograph, and it demonstrates his developing skill with montage. I'm fond of Lonedale because it captures day-to-day life in a bygone era (for example, the secretary operating an early typewriter and the operation of steam locomotives).

The performances are by necessity done in broad strokes. Blanche Sweet, then a very mature-looking 15-year-old plays the story's heroine who bluffs her way out of a sticky situation.

This film is one of the highlights of the Treasures DVD set.

Wow was I confused when I saw this movie from 1911. I didn't recall having seen THE LONEDALE OPERATOR when I started the film, but soon after it started it was like a case of déjà vu. I KNEW I had seen the film before and even reviewed it on IMDb but I didn't remember it as being called 'THE LONEDALE OPERATOR'. After a little checking, I found that the film I had seen was THE GIRL AND HER TRUST (1912) and the films were virtually identical. And, oddly enough, both are 17 minutes long (though the speed at which the films are cranked may make this slightly longer or shorter). This really isn't too surprising, though, as when the film was made back in 1911, outright plagiarism was common and pretty much condoned and many times the same production company would remake their films only a year or so later! Often, the same film would be made by two or three or even more production companies--sometimes even with the same movie title! So it's very easy to understand the confusion.

Now as for the film itself, it's a very good early full-length movie. Believe it or not, 17 minutes make this a very long film for 1911--as most films were less than five minutes long!! Because of its "great length", the film has a good plot and is quite entertaining. Compared to other films of the age, it is a standout picture in practically every way.

D. W. Griffith was an extremely controversial figure and as a person he was despicable. However, as a filmmaker, he was one of the most important to classical cinema and what came after. In The Lonedale Operator, it is possible to notice that the techniques he used are still used today in cinema and influenced other directors, such as Sergei Eisenstein. The editing is very well used and helps build tension and suspense. The scene where the character is on the train to save his wife is brilliant. The montage shows the train arriving and, at the same time, the woman trying to protect herself, generating very effective tension. Even though the director is problematic, this film is a reflection of his genius and importance for the techniques used in cinema.

Blanche Sweet stars in this film from 1911 by D. W. Griffith made for Biograph. Considering it was made in 1911, and Griffith's techniques weren't quite as advanced, it is very good. However, only a year later, Griffith remade his movie in a 15 minute short for Biograph, and the remake, I have to say, is more refined in techniques. There is essentially more cutting and the pacing is a lot faster (the beginning to this one starts slow). Griffith was probably looking at this film a year later and thinking, "I could've done better. Say, how about doing a remake of this one? And how about a chase towards the end by locomotive?" Thus "The Girl and Her Trust", the aforementioned remake, was filmed.

Now to the comparison. What makes this film not as advanced? Well, no chasing the tramps when they escape with the money. In fact, in here they don't even escape with the money at all. The shots of the interior of the locomotive look cool, but no tracking shot of the outside of the locomotive. That's another memorable thing in the remake. Plenty of cross-cutting, but the tramps peeking through the window bit is not drawn out as long and there isn't as much of that. Griffith was still learning when he made it, but it is still pretty good, and is certainly worthwhile for any Griffith fan. Even though the director became famous for "Birth of a Nation" and "Intolerance", short features like this show how advanced Griffith was with film editing.