The Sands of Dee (1912)

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Writer:

Charles Kingsley (poem)

Stars:

Mae Marsh, Robert Harron, Charles Hill Mailes

Cast

Credited cast:
Mae Marsh	...	Mary
Robert Harron	...	Bobby
Charles Hill Mailes	...	Mary's Father
Grace Henderson	...	Mary's Mother
Kate Toncray	...	Bobby's Mother
Edwin August	...	The Artist
Claire McDowell	...	The Artist's Fiancée
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Spottiswoode Aitken
Wilfred Lucas
W. Chrystie Miller	...	A Fisherman
Frank Opperman	...	A Fisherman
Vivian Prescott

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

1800s

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Genres:

Romance | Short

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 July 1912 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Corona Del Mar, Newport Beach, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Biograph Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

17 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The Spiral Staircase (1945)

User Reviews

The Poetry of the Sea

The opening title tells us that this film is inspired by Kingsley's poem, but even more than that, Griffith loved to shoot the sea and the shore. To him the restless motion told of unending, strong emotion, and he uses it that effect here, as Miss Marsh is enamored of an artist who throws her over when his society lady shows up. She refuses to accept Bobby Harron as a substitute and drowns herself in the sea.

Griffith used to complain of the studio-bound productions that arose in the late 'Teens and Twenties that "We have lost the wind in the trees." Looking at this poorly known work, the viewer can grasp what he meant: not the pathetic fallacy of storm during emotional upheaval, but the constant movement that betokens the movements of the soul.

The the wonderful way in which the actors manage to tell the story with no titles for speech. Words are not necessary to express emotion; indeed, to the skilled pantomimists that Griffith trained himself, they would simply get in the way.