The Adventures of Dollie (1908) User Reviews (14)

D.W. Griffith's humble debut...

[jluis1984 · 6/10 · 8 June 2007]

The year of 1908 was certainly an important one for a 34 year old playwright named D.W. Griffith, because that was the year he decided to try his luck in films with an adaptation of "Tosca" that he wrote specially for the new movie industry. However, success didn't came quick for the young writer, as literally nobody saw any potential in his work; the only one who saw any kind of potential in him was film pioneer Edwin S. Porter, but his eyes weren't in Griffith's writing skills, but on his acting, and send the young man with director J. Searle Dawly to make some shorts. While disappointed, Griffith kept acting to pay the bills, until later that year, he was finally hired for something other than as an actor: American Mutoscope & Biograph was looking for young directors and D.W. Griffith took the job. 1908's short film, "The Adventures of Dollie", was the humble debut of a director that would be known as a legend.

In "The Adventures of Dollie", a family of three goes out for a nice trip along the riverside during a sunny summer's day. A gypsy (Charles Inslee) walks by them, and attempts to sell his baskets to the family. The Mother (Linda Arvidson) doesn't want to buy anything from him, and attempts to move on, but this angers the gypsy, who begins to attack the mother and her daughter Dollie (Gladys Egan) until the Father (Arthur V. Johnson) appears and drives the gypsy off. Even more angered, the gypsy decides to kidnap Dollie and hide her inside of a barrel to be able to escape unnoticed. When her parents notice she's been kidnapped, they organize a rescue party, but it's too late: the gypsies have escaped and the barrel where Dollie is hidden is on their wagon. However, this is only the beginning, as the barrel falls from the wagon and falls into the river. Dollie's real adventure is just about to begin.

Written by Stanner E.V. Taylor (his first real work as a scriptwriter), "The Adventures of Dollie" is a very simple tale of action and adventure on a style that was made very popular in that year after the release of J. Searle Dawly's "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest" (the movie where Griffith debuted as an actor), in fact, the plot of both films are so similar that it's clear that this movie was made to cash on Dawly's success (both films are about kidnapped childs). Still, what made this movie a bit different was that this time the focus was on the kidnapped kid instead of the rescuers, as we follow Dollie (or better said, the barrel that contains her) through the film. Some have labeled the movie as racist towards the Romani people (gypsies), but I find such comments out of place as the story simply reflects the ideas of its time, as gypsies weren't seen on a good light because of their nomadic lifestyle.

In this his modest debut as a director, there are already some early touches of Griffith's genius through the movie. While an amateur following the conventions he has learned from his work as an actor (as well as from codirector and future collaborator G.W. Bitzer), Griffith already begins to show his ideas about storytelling in film and his creative use of editing to create emotions on the audience. The effective use he gives to Arthur Marvin's cinematography helps to keep the film dynamic, away from the theatrical style that was common in those years. True, the film is pretty typical and follows an already stablished ideas about film narrative, but credit must to Griffith for making such an accomplished film with almost zero experience behind the camera.

One of Griffith's most famous traits can also be seeing in this movie, and that is his great skill to get natural performances from his actors. As written above, the movie moves away from the stagy style of film-making of the time, and Griffith takes this ideal to his cast too, as he decides to get a more realistic approach in their performances. Arthur V. Johnson and Linda Arvidson (Griffith's wife) are good in their performances, although Johnson tends to overact a bit (understandable as he had little experience on film). Gladys Egan, who plays little Dollie is also very good, although her role is considerably simpler. As the gypsies, Charles Inslee and Madeline West are OK, although like Johnson, they tend to overact a little bit, although that would be natural, since they are playing the common stereotypes of gypsy people.

"The Adventures of Dollie" is not exactly a movie that one would expect from legendary director D.W. Griffith, but then again, most debuts tend to be mere shadows of the future ahead. Later that very same year Griffith would start making some serious experimentation on this very same plot line, and would create some really innovative films in a very short time. Movies like "The Red Man and the Child", "For a Wife's Honor" and "The Lonely Villa" would introduce new and highly inventive ways of storytelling that would further develop film-making as an art. While many of the techniques he used weren't exactly new, he combined them and put them together in a way that later would be considered as the definitive narrative language of cinema. While there are many better Griffith shorts (even from the same year), this movie is a must see if only because it represents the humble start of a master's career. 6/10

Completely ridiculous but oddly likable--despite the "I hate Gypsies" message!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 12 August 2006]

This is NOT the first anti-Gypsy film I saw by D. W. Griffith. It seems that in addition to hating Blacks, Griffith wasn't very partial to Gypsies and portrayed them as lying thieves in his films. In one case, it involved a lying fortune-teller that was trying to climb inside Mary Pickford's dress in WHAT THE DAISY SAID, and in this case, it involves evil Gypsies trying to kidnap our kids!!! Wow.

The story begins with a Gypsy attacking some people. Why? I dunno. But after getting a thrashing, he steals a family's kid and stuffs her into a barrel. So far, the movie is bad. But, once she's in the barrel, the movie gets pretty funny--but I doubt if that was necessarily the intention. Either way, it's a short and interesting historical curio.

This is where the Legacy of The Father Of The Cinema Begun. A quintessential human drama of historical importance.

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 7/10 · 21 May 2021]

The Adventures of Dollie (1908) : Brief Review -

This is where the Legacy of The Father Of The Cinema Begun. A quintessential human drama of historical importance. D W Griffith, the father of cinema, who established so many dramatic genres and sub-genres in Cinema World begin his unbeatable career with this short. In the same year he shot 48 shorts for a studio but for historical notes, The Adventures of Dollie stands as a highly important film. The film tells the story of a young girl who, after being kidnapped by a gypsy peddler, ends up trapped in a barrel as it floats downriver toward a waterfall. Within 13 minutes, Griffiths closes on deal with so many substances such as family, emotions, gypsy, thrill and happy ending. That scene when the gypsy tries to rob the woman, he does, the woman fights back, the small girl also throws her hand at him and the husband comes from behind and beats the bad guy. This all happens within 15 Seconds, yes that's the thing to notice. Its not the end but even the later part builds a strong story of commonalty, which, certainly wasn't common for 1908. Griffith's editing also packs a great punch while telling this quintessential storyline in thrilling manners. Well, 1908 wasn't the time where one would have given solid acting performance as the motion pictures were just started learning to take a breath so let's not talk about that and to be frank i couldn't even recognise their faces as there were no close-up shots. It is hard to rate the films made before 'Birth Of A Nation' (1915) because everything was at learning stage then. So, don't take the rating much seriously as i just had to rate it something, somehow. It's a primary schooling for us Movie Buffs where acknowledging and understanding cinema matters more than the Grades.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Certainly of Historical Interest

[Snow Leopard · 23 January 2006]

As the first movie directed by D.W. Griffith, this is certainly of historical interest, both in itself and in comparison with his later, far better efforts. Although "The Adventures of Dollie" is just fair in itself, you can see the director's potential and, even more obviously, the kind of material that he liked to work with.

The setup is one that Griffith would use many times with various modifications, contrasting a conventional American family with a person or persons of whom Griffith disapproved, and bringing them into conflict. In this case, it is a pair of gypsy vagabonds who are responsible for pulling a young girl out of her seemingly idyllic family situation and placing her in a series of perils. Much of the time, the story looks forced or contrived. Yet only a few years later, Griffith would tell very similar stories in such a way that you could hardly help being moved to whatever emotions he wanted you to feel.

Although Griffith is often given too much credit for inventing new techniques, he certainly deserves credit for taking many of the rudimentary techniques of the era and systematically figuring out how to use them to maximum effect. A few years later, he would have added a couple of very brief moments at the beginning to maximize audience sympathy for Dollie, he would have provided a more believable motivation for the vagabonds' actions, and he would have found a way to make the audience feel a stronger sense of danger during Dollie's trip down the river.

Even here, though, his story-telling skills are evident. The print in one of Kino's excellent historical collections is missing all of the inter-titles, and yet there is never a moment when the action is not perfectly clear.

Dollie's 'adventures' are actually rather frightening, when you think about them for a while. But Griffith soon learned how to save his audiences this effort, by devising a wealth of resourceful ways to make sure that viewers did not miss the points he wanted to make.

Early Works of Film Directors-Review # 8: D. W. Griffith and G. W. Bitzer's The Adventures of Dollie

[tavm · 7/10 · 10 December 2021]

Having previously played a man whose son gets kidnapped in Rescue from an Eagle's Nest, for his first work behind the camera, D. W. Griffith tells a story in which a father and mother's daughter gets kidnapped by a gypsy. This was quite a straightforward narrative that doesn't seem much different from other films during this time (once again, there are no close-ups) but there's some excitement especially concerning the object the daughter gets stuck in as we follow that object's journey. And Griffith got great help from co-director G. W. Bitzer who'd eventually be his cinematographer. All in all, The Adventures of Dollie was an enjoyable beginning for Griffith's new career.

Gets High Ranking For Historical Purposes

[springfieldrental · 7/10 · 12 January 2021]

After 6 months in front of the camera, D. W. Griffith, 33, was given a shot to direct a movie for Biograph Studios in July 1908. The studio's previous go-to director, veteran Wallace McCutcheon, Sr., became ill and his son didn't work out. G.W. Bitzer, Biograph's primary cameraman, recommended Griffith because the actor was always asking questions about the details of moviemaking. Given the assignment at directing, his first film was "The Adventures of Dollie."

The movie was a success, to which Biograph assigned him as its main director. The film itself is quite pedestrian, but it does show Griffith's understanding of that day's cinematic language. A few clipped scenes reflects his desire not to stretch out segments so in vogue in the early 1900's. (Yet the lingering sequence of the barrel traveling downstream shows he hadn't quite grasped future film pacing) Griffith's use of depth-of-field, however reflects a knowledge of departing from stage-bound right-to-left movements and captures the actors moving towards and away from the camera.

Griffith's maiden voyage; otherwise unexceptional

[DLewis · 4/10 · 14 November 2000]

Though listed as "lost" in Iris Barry's 1940 biography of D.W. Griffith, "The Adventures of Dollie" was discovered in the Library of Congress' paper print division in the 50s and transferred back to flexible film. Having seen it on 8mm, I can attest that it is a rather ordinary one-reeler consisting of thirteen scenes shot from twelve set-ups with nothing to distinguish it from other Biograph product of the era than that it is known to have been the first film directed by D.W. Griffith. I'm rather surprised by the high rating the imdb voters have given it, as Griffith would achieve much higher standards even within 1908, and would go on in short measure to blow films like "Dollie" totally out of the water, both technically and in terms of story development. For him it was merely a start, for us it's amazing this historic treasure survives to be seen at all.

The Adventures of D.W.

[Steffi_P · 4/10 · 16 February 2011]

This is where it began: The first picture of arguably the most important director – if not the most important single figure – in cinema history. Is it any good? Well, no, of course not. No genius ever arrived on a scene fully formed. Considered in itself and of its time it is much like anything else an inexperienced director might have produced for the Biograph company in 1908. But with hindsight… DW Griffith's background was in theatre, which set him apart because many of the earliest film pioneers were essentially technicians. This is in part the reason why a lot of visual effects were perfected before narrative and acting style. Silent cinema as it was then however differed little from stagecraft, especially since mime was then a lot more common, and with this crudely melodramatic tale Griffith is essentially directing broad pantomime, full of exaggerated gesture to overcompensate for the lack of speech.

However, Griffith appears to acknowledge one difference between cinema and theatre, one that was to become key to his style ever after, and that is the use of depth. Virtually all the movement in The Adventures of Dollie is towards or away from the camera, as oppose to across it. The long static takes particularly highlight this approach. This is before editing within a scene or using inserts were common methods, and this means we get some odd-looking (and very theatrical) set-ups, as in the scene where Dollie is kidnapped, the father walks away and the gypsy approaches all within the same shot, meaning our sense of logic tells us that the father can't be more than a dozen paces away when his girl is snatched. Griffith is still using the concept of stage wings for entrances and exits, imagining that once someone has walked out of sight they are out of the scene, which looks unnatural for cinema. However, rather than having them at left and right as on a stage, the father exits walking straight into the foreground, while the gypsy emerges from the bushes in the background. It still looks illogical, but it shows a willingness to work on solutions towards a non-theatrical style.

In doing this, Griffith is showing nothing entirely new and certainly nothing exceptional, but he is showing a certain tendency, a particular way of thinking about the medium that would later lead to amazing things. And Griffith also displays his quality as an ideas man that transcends all technique and experience. For example, when the father searches through the gypsy caravan, the gypsy is resting his foot on the barrel in which Dollie is hidden, cockily flaunting the secret before his enemy. It's little touches like this, giving a scene that little bit of character, that separate the great directors from the merely good ones.

Hello, Dollie!

[wes-connors · 2/10 · 19 August 2007]

The first known film directed by D.W. Griffith; it's just so-so. Arthur V. Johnson and Linda Arvidson like to take their little girl Dollie (Gladys Egan) out for afternoon walks and such. One day, vagrant Charles Inslee tries to sell Ms. Arvidson a basket. When she shines the tramp on, he gets belligerent; then, Mr. Johnson beats him up. Seeking revenge, Mr. Inslee kidnaps the little girl.

The "exciting climax" is when the barrel tumbles down a waterfall and along a river. It's not all that exciting; the falls should have been nearer to the end of the rolling on the river... By "Way Down East" (1920), Mr. Griffith had the waterfalling excitement correctly presented. "The Adventures of Dollie" is more silly than adventurous.

** The Adventures of Dollie (7/14/08) D.W. Griffith ~ Arthur V. Johnson, Linda Arvidson, Charles Inslee

The Adventures Of Dollie (1908)

[mfnmbvp · 9/10 · 11 January 2012]

D.W. Griffith's inaugural voyage into filmmaking, after he approached Biograph Company searching for a job as an actor. One can definitely see how Griffith's skills as a director progressed in such a short period of time, but 'The Adventures Of Dollie' still appears thrilling to me, by modern standards, although the story is extremely simple-minded.

There is a public domain version of this film, along with many others by Griffith, available to view over at the Internet Archive. I am going to vote a 9 out of 10 for this one, partly due to it's historical value as the first film by one of the greatest directors of the silent era, and also because I thought it was really great! =)

THE ADVENTURES OF DOLLIE ----- 9/10.

Griffith's first film works despite its relative simplicity.

[Burton_Herschel_1 · 21 November 2010]

It's fairly remarkable that Griffith went from this film to ones like "Corner in Wheat" in only a year's time. Considering it was his first film, and that the medium itself was only twelve years old at this point, it's clear that he had the potential to come to know what he was doing with the medium; I would even say that he already knows what he's doing here, to a certain extent - at least a greater extent than Porter's "The Great Train Robbery".

Two things in particular that struck me in this film...

I don't think Griffith held the openings of the shots of (a) the caravan crossing the river and (b) the barrel going over the falls simply because he hadn't figured out editing rhythms, as I can imagine some imagining. I think he probably did this intentionally, since it allows for some suspense/anticipation to build in the audience that would be completely lost if the action happened at a faster pace, with the shots cutting in on the caravan entering the frame, or the barrel on the edge of the falls. The audience needs a moment to register the location itself, and to mentally connect it to the preceding events, in order to (i) get an idea of what is likely to happen, and (ii) fear it happening. Compared to this kind of suspense (admittedly a fairly basic/simple kind), the more straightforward presentation of the action in "The Great Train Robbery" lacks a sense of audience engagement/involvement/'active viewing', as we're basically just watching as things happen, not being made to anticipate them as part of the experience the film is giving us. Of course, I have no idea if Griffith was the first filmmaker to do it like this, but it still shows a fairly good understanding of the medium. (How many Hollywood directors today would understand to hold such shots and not just cut right to the 'action'?)

Also, the ending, while contrived (of course the barrel just happened to get pulled out of the river outside of her house!), somehow works. I think this is because it both comes as a surprise (I'd guess the audience is more likely to think the river is carrying her *away from* the locations that have been established, rather than the other way around) and also seems to fit with what we've already seen. There's a sense of familiarity when we return to the shot of the bank and the boy fishing, and since we can relate this moment to something we've seen at the beginning of the film, it has a certain kind of internal consistency that would be unrealistic in life, but which works to give the film itself a feeling of unity as a fictional text (the trouble ends where it began!). While it might simply be a case of both limited production resources (in this case, time to find, set up and film at a new location, when Griffith was averaging two of these films a week) and the limited running time of a one-reeler itself, and the needing to arrive at an ending literally sooner than later, there could have been many different ways of ending this story that wouldn't have worked as well, even if they had been more realistic/plausible.

Griffith ,the father of editing

[luigicavaliere · 8/10 · 17 February 2019]

A father and a mother bring their daughter Dolly for a walk. A gypsy violently reacts to the refused to buy something from him. The father defends the family and the gypsy, in revenge, kidnaps Dollye, who is put into a barrel, which falls into the river that flows towards the waterfall. The parents find the barrel and the child on the river side. Griffith was a US filmmaker who was among the first to use editing. Many say that he is the father of editing. The alternate editing punctuates the rhythms , creating a tension.

2 Early Griffith

[Michael_Elliott · 28 February 2008]

Adventures of Dollie, The (1908)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

The first (of 400+) film directed D.W. Griffith is about a pair of gypsies who kidnap a three-year-old girl. When the girl's parents come looking for her the gypsies hide her in a barrel, which they accidentally drop in the river. Griffith's skill is certainly in full display here as his use of editing is right on the mark as he builds suspense of the girl going down the river. A wicked sense of humor is also on display here.

Those Awful Hats (1909)

*** (out of 4)

D.W. Griffith comedy about a movie crowd getting angry because the women's large hats are blocking the screen. This is shorter than most of the shorts from this period but it's a very funny little gem.

Griffith's Debut

[Tornado_Sam · 6 January 2023]

It's not anything new to say the early works of D. W. Griffith weren't anything spectacular. In fact, films like "The Adventures of Dollie" are what the majority of his output consists of: short, 10-15 minute film dramas often featuring a simple story that is told through the standard monotonous long shots that each film consisted of back in the day. This early on, there's absolutely no hint whatsoever of the suspenseful sort of storytelling later films, such as the brilliant "Birth of a Nation" and "Intolerance" would feature. However, considering the rest of the movies during this time looked the exact same in technique as this one, there's really no reason to complain.

"The Adventures of Dollie" is about a little girl who is kidnapped by gypsies and ends up going on a crazy ride in a barrel. There's really little else to it than that, although there is some nice cinematography involved and the story works for what it is. That being said, the film is really only worth seeing for historical reasons as it doesn't contain the excitement and buildup of his later material, and it would take until 1912 or so before Griffith would begin shooting more advanced, better crafted shorts.