Her Terrible Ordeal (1910) User Reviews

Fair Griffith short

[Michael_Elliott · 26 February 2008]

Her Terrible Ordeal (1910)

** (out of 4)

D.W. Griffith film about a woman who goes to see her boyfriend at work but while he's gone a burglar breaks in and throws the woman into a vault. Now it's a race against time for someone to find her before she suffocates. Griffith made countless "race against time" pictures but this one here isn't among his best. The two leads are rather boring and Griffith's direction never really pays off. The ending contains a little suspense but not enough to make the film memorable.

This is available through Grapevine in part of their D.W. Griffith: The Director series.

No Heart

[Single-Black-Male · 28 May 2004]

There is absolutely no heart in this film whatsoever. You could have a talented director, a well-developed script, a good cast, superb locations and advanced technical skills, but unless there is heart and soul in the film it is a dead loss. I was bored to tears watching this. What on earth was Griffith thinking of when he filmed it? He doesn't inspire me in the least. One or two of his projects may be okay, but the vast body of his work is somewhat to be desired. I rate this 3 out of 10 and that's being generous. I think the title is apt: it was a terrible ordeal to watch it. You can't produce a conveyor belt of creativity. A film is a work of art and needs to be an expression of the soul.

If the business man in the picture had not been absent-minded

[deickemeyer · 18 February 2015]

A love story, the interest in which is heightened by the fact that the girl is locked in a safe; an absent-minded business man who leaves important papers behind and must, perforce, return to his office to get them, and a general mixup which keeps up the interest throughout the film. The girl is finally rescued and the picture ends happily, with the young people united and probably all pleased, rather than otherwise, that the aforesaid business man was absent-minded. Maybe the central thought of this picture may be taken to be the inference that sometimes those things which seem all wrong in reality are blessings in disguise. Or, to make the application of this idea specific, if the business man in the picture had not been absent-minded the girl would have died in the safe. Not all in an audience will reason out or appreciate these subtleties, but when they do interest in the picture is increased proportionately. - The Moving Picture World, January 22, 1910