Starring: Dorothy Gish, Lillian Gish, Grace Henderson, Elmer Booth, and Harry Carey
Director: D.W. Griffith
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
Recently orphaned sisters (Gish and Gish) may be the victims of more than just robbery when their corrupt maid (Henderson) and her safe-cracking boyfriend (Carey) decide to steal part of their inheritance.
"The Unseen Enemy" was a surprising treat. While its a historically important film in that it's the debut picture of future silent movie super-stars Lillian and Dorothy Gish, it's also a thrilling little drama that has held up surprisingly well. While viewers will have to have some level of tolerance for the sometimes overly dramatic acting styles of the day, this is a film with well-drawn characters, a multi-pronged and fast-moving plot, a nicely staged action sequence involving speeding automobiles... all of which leads to a satisfying conclusion.
Although Griffith manages to deliver a story that has everything (romance, comedy, drama) in less than 1/3rd the time it takes most modern crime dramas with stories like this, it's not a perfect effort. In addition for viewers to a need to have tolerance for some over-the-top acting at a couple points, the dramatic scene shown in the picture I've used to illustrate this piece ends up being a tad more silly than suspenseful. It starts out tense, and there's a couple moments during the sequence where Griffith manages to recapture the suspense, but there's an easy way for the girls to get out of the threatening situation they're in, and even when they try to take it, Griffin cops out and makes it so they don't succeed.
I'm aware that these days one is supposed to react with faux outrage when the names D.W. Griffith and Lillian Gish are mentioned, and we're supposed to run for the fainting couch at the merest suggestion that one should watch a film Griffith directed or one that Gish appears in--because, you know, of the terrible, TERRIBLE sin against all of humanity that is "The Birth of a Nation". However, since I have a greater interest in the art of film than I have in over-the-top hystrionics that would even embarrass Elmer Booth (the most prolific over-actor in "An Unseen Enemy"), I appreciate Griffith as a man who had a talent for cinematic storytelling and who recognized potential when he met with actors. (Sure, it would have been easy for him to see the talent in the Gish sisters, who came to him already seasoned stage actresses, but he also saw the greatness in Bessie Love who had no acting experience and was just looking for a summer job.)
I recommend you check out "An Unseen Enemy", right here and now, as I've embedded it below.
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