<\/p>\n As well as an exciting narrative, Suspense<\/i> included some stunning shots. Especially striking were those from a character\u2019s point of view. One of these was a shot from above of the tramp looking up and threatening the woman, supposedly from the woman\u2019s point of view out of an upstairs window. In addition, the tramp was shown to be particularly menacing as he ascend the stairs and looms large in the frame. The split screen which sectioned the tramp, the husband and the wife into separate areas was also very effective.\u00a0 The car chase afforded some great opportunities for inventive camerawork. \u00a0There was a point-of-view shot from the second car of the first, while the wing mirror of the first car neatly showed those pursuing it several times.<\/p>\n D.W. Griffith\u2019s The Mothering Heart<\/i> was very different to both Barbe-bleue<\/i> and Suspense<\/i>. The melodrama focused on the less fantastical, and arguably less suspenseful, issues of marriage and infidelity. \u00a0It was preoccupied, as were other films of the time, with the split of the woman into virgin (as represented by Lillian Gish) and the vamp (Viola Barry). Both of whom were interested in the same man (Walter Miller). Discussion of Griffith\u2019s film focused mainly on the presence of Lillian Gish and the similarity of her role to the one she played in Griffith\u2019s Way Down East<\/i> (1920) in which she also appeared as a mother who tragically lost her baby. While Gish\u2019s character here appeared to act more progressively than in Way Down East<\/i> \u2013 she leaves her husband while she is pregnant due to his infidelity \u2013 the reconciliation at the end over their dead baby\u2019s body felt very contrived. Griffith\u2019s inclusion of Apache dancing taking place in the background of the club where the husband meets the vamp was also commented upon. A comparison was drawn between the Apache woman following her man and the foregrounding of suffering Woman – a common theme of melodrama.<\/p>\n It was also especially interesting to compare the work of two often-referenced male film pioneers (Melies and Griffith) with a lesser known, though hugely important, female director of the silent era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Posted by Sarah This week we had the opportunity to compare some varied short film melodramas: Barbe-bleue (Bluebeard, 1901, 10 mins) directed by and starring George Melies, The Mothering Heart (1913, 22 mins) directed by D.W. Griffith and starring his … Continue reading ![\"Barbe](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/melodramaresearchgroup\/files\/2013\/05\/Barbe-bleue2.png\")
<\/a>Discussion on the earliest of these film shorts, Barbe-bleue<\/i>, noted that, in keeping with other films produced at the time, it was filmed by a static camera. However, the fairly frequent set changes and constant on-screen action (including some of Melies\u2019 trademark trick shots of a character \u2013 a taunting imp – \u00a0appearing and disappearing accompanied by a puff of smoke) added impetus to the already melodramatic story. This story was closely related to the gothic with some powerful imagery involving a secret room, keys, Bluebeard\u2019s dead wives hanging from nooses and the latter characters invading his current wife\u2019s dreams. \u00a0Significantly the narrative centred on a woman (or perhaps more correctly women<\/i>) in peril, which has been a constant theme in the films the Melodrama Research Group has screened. Appropriately for Melies, known for his magic, Bluebeard\u2019s dead wives inexplicably become reanimated, just in time to be rescued by men who had rather magically appeared.<\/p>\n![\"suspense\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/melodramaresearchgroup\/files\/2013\/05\/suspense.png\")
<\/a>Like Barbe-bleue<\/i>, Suspense<\/i> bore close relation to the gothic since they both focus on a woman in jeopardy. The threat to the woman in Suspense is explicitly sexual, however. Tom Gunning\u2019s article on the use of telephone in early film “Heard over the phone: The Lonely Villa and the de Lorde tradition of the terrors of technology.” Screen<\/i> 32.2 (1991): 184-196 was referenced. In this, Gunning notes the fact that both telephonic and cinematic technology manage to bring us near to, but at the same time keep us at a distance from, the subject (either the person at the other end of the telephone, or the characters in the film). We are not in a position to affect what occurs onscreen, while the husband in Suspense<\/i> is similarly hamstrung by his physical distance from his home and wife whilst they are under attack. It was noted that Gunning mentions D.W. Griffith\u2019s Lonely Villa<\/i> (1909) which also uses a telephone in the narrative.<\/p>\n![\"mothering\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/melodramaresearchgroup\/files\/2013\/05\/mothering.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n