Mary and Jim are gonna marry! Nothing will stop them! Except...

They Would Elope (1909)
Starring: Mary Pickford, Billy Quirk, and James Kirkwood
Director: D.W. Griffith
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A young couple (Pickford and Quirk), convinced their families are opposed to their desire to get married, decide to elope. But Fate keeps trying to stop them.

I almost gave up on "They Would Elope" roughly one minute in, because it felt stagey even for an early silent movie. Not only that, it felt stagey in a bad way, with the actors performing on a stage that was far too small for the scene they were attempting. (Her parents walk in on the young lovers canoodling, but they don't notice them initially, despite standing right next to them and talking. And the young lovers don't notice the parents intially, despite the fact they are standing right next to them, talking. The scene is so badly done that I found it hard to believe that it was in a D.W. Griffith film.)  

I'm glad I kept watching, though, because moments later, an amusing twist was introduced into the story... and from that point forward the film went down a very deliberate, very silly path. Even as it grew more silly, it grew more charming. I went from almost turning the film off to eagerly wanting to see what would happen when the young lovers inevitably reunited with their families.

I think "They Would Elope" is the first comedy from D.W. Griffith I've seen. While it has its flaws, it's just as fast-paced as his dramatic short films, and I think modern audiences will be as entertained by it as they were in 1909. One thing I personally realized (or perhaps rediscovered after forgetting, because I feel like I should have known this already) is that filmmakers were making full-on satires of melodramas as far back as the early days of cinema. 

I am embedding "They Would Elope" via YouTube to make it easy for you to enjoy this fun movie. Feel free to leave a comment on this post if you think my estimation of it is off.