The Cricket on the Hearth

This 10 minute short film has a disproportionate reflection of the nation at that time. The 34 year old D.W. Griffith distorts his offering of American life through his blurry characters. His frame of reference is quite narrow, and you can tell that he is still feeling his way through this medium that is cinema. He was fortunate to have the privilege of being paid whilst learning by trial and error. The story doesn't have a human interest appeal and only caters for hard core fans. His worldview is somewhat tainted by his value system which is fully realised in his future epic, 'The Birth of a Nation'.