| The Lonely Villa | |
|---|---|
Play film; runtime 00:11:41 | |
| Directed by | D. W. Griffith |
| Written by | Mack Sennett |
| Based on | Au Telephone byAndré de Lorde |
| Starring | David Miles |
| Cinematography | G. W. Bitzer Arthur Marvin |
| Distributed by | Biograph Company |
Release date |
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Running time | 12 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent (Englishintertitles) |
The Lonely Villa is a 1909 Americanshortsilentcrime drama film directed byD. W. Griffith and starringDavid Miles,Florence Lawrence, andMary Pickford in one of her first film roles.[1] It is based on the 1901 French playAu Téléphone (At the Telephone) byAndré de Lorde.[2] A print ofThe Lonely Villa survives and is currently in thepublic domain.[3]The Lonely Villa was produced by theBiograph Company.[1] It was released on June 10, 1909, along with another D. W. Griffith split-reel film,A New Trick.[3]
Three burglars check out a house. One of them then delivers a fake letter summoning the house's owner, Mr. Cullison. Before he leaves, Cullison gives his wife a pistol, but the crook manages to unload it unnoticed. The butler and a maid receive time off, and Cullison is driven away by his chauffeur, apparently leaving the wife and three daughters all alone.
The crooks break down the front door using a crowbar. Mrs. Cullison and her daughters flee to a room, lock the door and barricade it. Meanwhile, the man's car breaks down. He takes the opportunity to use the telephone at an inn to call his wife. She tells him what is going on. He borrows a horse-drawn wagon from gypsies, and he, a policeman and two men from the inn gallop to his home. When the robbers break down the second door, the family take refuge in a third room, but the burglars soon get in. One tries to open a safe, while a second rips a necklace off the woman's neck. Just then, the rescuers arrive and save the day.
Filming took place on April 29–30 and May 4, 6 and 14, 1909, inFort Lee, New Jersey,[4][5] and at Biograph's studio inNew York City.[1]
Griffith used cross-cutting to create tension.[6] A series of alternating shots depicts the mother desperately defending her children from intruders, with shots of the frantic father returning at high speed to reach his imperiled family. Griffith, by incrementally shortening the length of each cross-cut "heightened the excitement" of the event.[a]
