IMDb RATING
6.2/10
1.3K
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Set in an early cinema house, this comic short illustrates the problems with the gals' hats obscuring the movie patron's line of vision.Set in an early cinema house, this comic short illustrates the problems with the gals' hats obscuring the movie patron's line of vision.Set in an early cinema house, this comic short illustrates the problems with the gals' hats obscuring the movie patron's line of vision.
Linda Arvidson
- Theatre Audience
- (uncredited)
John R. Cumpson
- Theatre Audience
- (uncredited)
Flora Finch
- Woman with Largest Hat
- (uncredited)
George Gebhardt
- Theatre Audience
- (uncredited)
Robert Harron
- Theatre Audience
- (uncredited)
Anita Hendrie
- Theatre Audience
- (uncredited)
Charles Inslee
- Theatre Audience
- (uncredited)
Arthur V. Johnson
- Theatre Audience
- (uncredited)
Florence Lawrence
- Theatre Audience
- (uncredited)
Gertrude Robinson
- Theatre Audience
- (uncredited)
Mack Sennett
- Man in Checkered Jacket and Top Hat
- (uncredited)
Dorothy West
- Theatre Audience
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- D.W. Griffith(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIs thought to be one of the very first, if not the first, theatrical public service announcements. Ladies were told to remove their hats in the cinema or the nickelodeons, or face expulsion. Today we have announcements about noise, babies, cell phones, etc. that are in the same vein.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Story of Film: An Odyssey: Birth of the Cinema (2011)
Featured review
An early slapstick Biograph from Hollywood's first master
The name of D.W Griffith holds a special significance in cinema. Some of the greatest motion picture legends have paid tribute to his pioneering film-making, including John Ford and Orson Welles. Notably, Charles Chaplin once described Griffith as "The Teacher Of Us All." The director's unending praise is certainly not undeserved, his most revered films including the controversial 'The Birth of a Nation (1915),' 'Intolerance (1916),' 'Broken Blossoms (1919),' 'Way Down East (1920)' and 'Orphans of the Storm (1921),' many of which I have yet to have the pleasure of seeing. Surprisingly, Griffith didn't start his movie career in directing at all. After he failed in his bid to become a playwright, the young man became an actor, finally discovering his niche in film directing.
However, before he started producing his spectacular feature-length epics, Griffith was a very prolific director of short films. Between 1908 and 1913, Griffith worked for the Biograph Company, producing a mammoth 450 films in the space of only six years, sometimes averaging a rate of two or three in a week. These Biographs allowed the young director to polish his film-making skills, experimenting with revolutionary techniques such as cross-cutting, camera movement and close-ups that would later become commonplace in practically every movie that followed. As we move through Griffith's early works, we watch as his short films slowly become more and more elaborate and ambitious. 'Those Awful Hats (1909)' is one of early shorts, and was really meant as nothing more than an amusing three-minute comedic skit to precede a film screening and remind the women in the audience to remove their head-wear.
The film is basically played out in a single take, with an audience of attentive cinema-goers seated comfortably in a movie theatre. Using a process known as the Dunning-Pomeroy Matte process, Griffith was able to split the frame into two sections, splicing the film-within-a-film onto the same screen. With the audience members seated peacefully, their film enjoyment is suddenly disrupted when a lady wearing an elaborate hat seats herself in the front row, blocking everybody else's view of the screen. There are gestures of protest, but the women is evidently completely oblivious, and the male audience members become further exasperated as several more women take their places at the front of the theatre, each wearing a more sophisticated piece of head-wear than the last. The scene turns into an enjoyable farce when a large steel contraption lowers from the ceiling to confiscate the troublesome hats, the machine inadvertently taking one of the women to the ceiling with it.
Aside from the historical significance of its being an early Griffith Biograph, there is nothing particularly phenomenal about 'Those Awful Hats.' However, it does effectively display the director's unique creative vision, proving if his later films left you in any doubt that the genius' mind does house a healthy sense of humour.
However, before he started producing his spectacular feature-length epics, Griffith was a very prolific director of short films. Between 1908 and 1913, Griffith worked for the Biograph Company, producing a mammoth 450 films in the space of only six years, sometimes averaging a rate of two or three in a week. These Biographs allowed the young director to polish his film-making skills, experimenting with revolutionary techniques such as cross-cutting, camera movement and close-ups that would later become commonplace in practically every movie that followed. As we move through Griffith's early works, we watch as his short films slowly become more and more elaborate and ambitious. 'Those Awful Hats (1909)' is one of early shorts, and was really meant as nothing more than an amusing three-minute comedic skit to precede a film screening and remind the women in the audience to remove their head-wear.
The film is basically played out in a single take, with an audience of attentive cinema-goers seated comfortably in a movie theatre. Using a process known as the Dunning-Pomeroy Matte process, Griffith was able to split the frame into two sections, splicing the film-within-a-film onto the same screen. With the audience members seated peacefully, their film enjoyment is suddenly disrupted when a lady wearing an elaborate hat seats herself in the front row, blocking everybody else's view of the screen. There are gestures of protest, but the women is evidently completely oblivious, and the male audience members become further exasperated as several more women take their places at the front of the theatre, each wearing a more sophisticated piece of head-wear than the last. The scene turns into an enjoyable farce when a large steel contraption lowers from the ceiling to confiscate the troublesome hats, the machine inadvertently taking one of the women to the ceiling with it.
Aside from the historical significance of its being an early Griffith Biograph, there is nothing particularly phenomenal about 'Those Awful Hats.' However, it does effectively display the director's unique creative vision, proving if his later films left you in any doubt that the genius' mind does house a healthy sense of humour.
helpful•90
- ackstasis
- Aug 8, 2007
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Those Darn Hats
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime5 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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