The Mountaineer's Honor

The 34 year old D.W. Griffith may have been a good director in terms of narrative, but he was dreadful when it came to working with actors. His vast tome of short films is testimony to the fact that he did not allow Mary Pickford, Mack Sennett and Lilian Gish to construct a biography and history for their characters in each short film, and therefore what you eventually see is a one-dimensional story lack any emotional involvement. This is the reason why Sennett and Pickford moved on to make their own films. With all the strengths that Griffith may have as a director, his shortcomings far outweigh anything that he has contributed. He went for quantity rather than quality, and compromised winning favour with successive audiences.