D.W. Griffith brings us a fine drama starring two great actresses

The Mender of Nets (1912)
Starring: Mary Pickford, Charles West, Mabel Normand, Dell Henderson, and W. Chrystie Miller
Director: D.W. Griffith
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

When a fisherman (West) cheats on his girlfriend (Normand) with the village net-mender (Pickford), the betrayed girl's brother (Henderson) swears vengeance. Will the mender of nets be able to rise to the challenge and become the mender of hearts before blood is spilled? 

 I generally don't enjoy silent dramas, because they are for the most part too,,, well, dramatic. The mostly thin plots, static camera shots, and the over-the-top gesticulating and emoting by the actors combine in waya that just doesn't hold my interest. There's been one director who's works have always captured and held my attention, though: D.W. Griffith.

Griffith's dramas always clip along at a fast pace and there's never a dull moment on screen. Even establishing shots and transition scenes are full of energy and creatively framed. Even a shot of Mary Pickford staring wistfully into the distance and the beginning to smile is more fascinating than the entirety of some other silent dramas I've come across.

"The Mender of Nets" is impressive visually, even holding up nicely when compared to modern films. The outdoor shots and sequences are particularly nice. The story is simple, but Griffith adds suspense and drama through editing techniques and perfectly timed scene changes that were groundbreaking at the time--and which go a long way to making this film watchable today.

This film also remains watchable because of the natural performances by most of featured actors. While there's plenty of silent movie drama emoting, it is tempered and balanced here by a feeling of genuine warmth in Pickford's performance and emotional pain and panic in Normand's performance. Similarly, Dell Henderson seems like a genuinely bloodthirsty lunatic. West gives probably the most "standard" silent movie drama performance, but even he is a little more subdued than what is typical, coming across more in a Shakespearean tragedy way than over-emoting and hyper animated. Griffith once again brought the best out of his cast.

Finally, the film remains impressive because its relatively simple plot occupied by straight-forward characters ends up emerging as multi-layered as it reaches its conclusion. It could have come across as overly sentimental and maudlin, but because Pickford and Normand have such screen presence, and they gave such good performances, it comes across as bitter-sweet and even a little thought-provoking.

The version I watched (and have embedded below) features a modern score that was commissioned specifically for this film. Some viewers dislike it when modern music is applied to silent movies, but when it's well-done--as it is here--I think it helps bring new life to old art.

Take a few minutes to enjoy this classic film, with its new elements (or without... you can simply turn down the volume if you don't want modernity creep into the 100+ year-old short film that you're watching in a digitized format.)