The Making of a Man (1911) User Reviews

The only noteworthy thing is the director

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 12 February 2017]

THE MAKING OF A MAN is one of the less interesting silent shorts recently made available online by Harpodeon. This one came out in 1911 and clocks in at 17 minutes. The plot is about a girl who falls in love with a man who works as an actor. Problems arise when her father discovers what's been going on; he doesn't count acting as a proper profession and subsequently breaks up the union, leading to much heartbreak.

The only reason this short is noteworthy is that it was directed by D.W. Griffith, who would go on to much fame and fortune in later years. Otherwise it's strictly ordinary, and mistitled too; the female character is the focus of the film throughout and the man feels a bit extraneous. The denouement is good but the rest merely so-so.

Don't Fall For A Traveling Actor

[iquine · 5/10 · 1 November 2017]

(Flash Review)

This is a funny little film about a lady who is attracted to an older traveling actor bloke. Much to the shame of her father who forbids it and later has a heart attack as he learns more. Sort of funny, while he is supposedly dead, he is on screen for a while and obviously breathing rather heavily. Anyway, neat little short from the famous D. W. Griffith but parts of the story of told very well with strong emotional expressions and other parts don't help the story line very well.

The Life of an Actor

[boblipton · 7/10 · 5 June 2016]

Small town girl Blanche Sweet marries actor Dell Henderson. Her father, William Butler, has the marriage annulled. When it turns out she is pregnant, he sends Blanche away and, when Dell comes to ask for her, Butler tells him she is dead and then drops dead himself.

Although the movie seems to be titled confusedly, since Miss Sweet is the center of the storm, I suspect this is a personal film for D. W. Griffith. He had spent years on the road as a traveling actor and had undoubtedly felt the sting of being a member of a profession thought of as moral-free gypsies.

Except for the ranting performance of Mr. Butler, Griffith is in full possession of his tools, and Mr. Butler drives himself into a rage-fueled, deadly heart attack -- probably Griffith's revenge on some real life small town fathers. Certainly his group compositions at the start of the film are excellent, even if, in the end, it's a minor effort.

The silent picture can sometimes go where words cannot follow

[deickemeyer · 26 April 2016]

The knowledge of the fact that the village girl whom he had married was homeless and yet beyond his help, for he couldn't find her, did give the actor, hero of this picture, a dignity that was human and manly; but the picture is not well named, for the girl is the center of interest all through the film. In the early scenes, the man is shown as merely a barnstormer. The hard experience of the girl who fell in love with him, ran away and married him and was soon separated from him but, in abject poverty, found him in the end, grips our sympathies. The story is very well managed and at least two of the scenes are filled with significance. The silent picture can sometimes go where words cannot follow. The two great scenes are when the father brings the girl home after she has married the actor, and again when she finds her father dead in his chair. It is extremely well acted in most of its scenes. It is a strong, gripping, human picture. People will be glad to see it. - The Moving Picture World, October 21, 1911