''The Last Drop of Water'' is a 1911 American

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

silent

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring

Blanche Sweet Sarah Blanche Sweet (June 18, 1896 – September 6, 1986) was an American silent film actress who began her career in the earliest days of the Hollywood motion picture film industry. Early life Born Sarah Blanche Sweet (though her first na ...

. Three known prints of the film survive. It was filmed in the San Fernando desert as well as Lookout Mountain, California. The film was considered the "most ambitious film made by Griffith during the California trip of 1911" before the Biograph company moved back to New York. It was filmed on or between the 14 May and May 20, 1911. It was reissued by Biograph August 13, 1915.

Cast

as Mary * Charles West as Jim *

Robert Harron Robert Emmett Harron (April 12, 1893 – September 5, 1920) was an American motion picture actor of the early silent film era. Although he acted in over 200 films, he is possibly best recalled for his roles in the D.W. Griffith directed film ...

as In Wagon Train *

Dell Henderson George Delbert "Dell" Henderson (July 5, 1877 – December 2, 1956) was a Canadian-American actor, director, and writer. He began his long and prolific film career in the early days of silent film. Biography Born in the Southwestern Ontario city ...

as Undetermined Role *

Alfred Paget Alfred Paget (2 June 1879 – 8 October 1919) was an English silent film actor best known for his portrayal of Prince Belshazzar in D.W. Griffith's 1916 historical epic ''Intolerance''. He appeared in more than 230 films between 1908 and 19 ...

as An Indian / In Wagon Train *

Francis J. Grandon Francis J. Grandon (1879 – July 11, 1929) was an American silent film actor and director who acted in almost 100 films and directed over 100. Frank Grandon's obituary, printed in newspapers from coast-to- coast, called him "the father of mov ...

as John's Friend / In Wagon Train *

W. Chrystie Miller William Chrystie Miller (August 10, 1843 – September 23, 1922) was an American silent film actor. He appeared in 139 films between 1908 and 1914. Miller frequently appeared in films directed by D.W. Griffith and was known to film audienc ...

Jeanie MacPherson Abbie Jean MacPherson (May 18, 1886 – August 26, 1946) was an American silent actress, writer, and director. MacPherson worked as a theater and film actress before becoming a screenwriter for Cecil B. DeMille. She was a pioneer for women in th ...

as In Wagon Train *

Joseph Graybill Joseph Graybill (April 17, 1887 – August 3, 1913) was an American silent film actor. He appeared in several films directed by D.W. Griffith. Graybill joined the Biograph Company around 1909 in New York City. By 1910 Griffith was the main direc ...

as John *

William J. Butler William J. Butler (1860 – 27 January 1927) was an Irish silent film actor. He appeared in more than 260 films between 1908 and 1917. An Irish immigrant to the United States, moved his family from Ohio to Hollywood, California in 1908. ...

Plot

Two men who are friends, John and Jim, compete for the hand of Mary before they start on their journey westward. Mary is betrothed to John but she soon finds out about his lush behaviors. Native Americans ambush the train; the attack leaves the party with a low supply of water. Fearing

dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...

and because of need both John and Jim set out for water. Jim gives water to an older gentleman while John gives Jim the last drop of water, thus sacrificing himself for the train to continue on westward. Jim finds a water supply with the energy John gave to him with his last drop of water and the train is then rescued by the troops.

Publicity and preproduction

''The Last Drop of Water'' was promoted as having "extras well above 200" to show the detail and money going into the Western. The Biograph Company was heavily promoting the film at one of the highest state of production within the film industry of its day- trying to prove its modernity in the state of change within the film industry. This is considered to be Griffith's way of continuing his career since the Western by this time was losing popularity; this was his late break into the Western genre. The title of the film changed from "In a Wagon Train Going Westward in the 1800s" but was changed prior to the film's release date. California had a variety of environments that were used within the film; it was starting to become popular with filmmakers because of the access to natural and various landscapes.

Themes

The whole film is an allusion to the life of

Sir Philip Sydney ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

and his martyred death of giving all his resources as he lay dying on the battlefield, this reference is given during the first inter-title of the movie. White actors did redface in this film to portray American Indians as savages and continued the stereotype of the "aggressive savage" as well as the tumultuous relations with the tribes in the West as white Americans were immigrating towards California, indicative of

manifest destiny Manifest destiny was a cultural belief in the 19th century in the United States, 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America. There were three basic tenets to the concept: * The special vir ...

. This film was the precursor to a later film

The Covered Wagon ''The Covered Wagon'' is a 1923 American silent film, silent Western (genre), Western film released by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by James Cruze based on a 1922 novel of the same name by Emerson Hough about a group of pioneers tr ...

which ''The Western, from silents to cinerama'' describes both films as having "the same poetry" though Griffith's film is "more exciting" because of his use of

cross-cutting Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time, and often in the same place. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultane ...

to accentuate the action in ''The Last Drop of Water''. It is also one of Griffith's films where plot and action are on the same level as opposed to a focus on the action of film.

Linda Arvidson's memoir

Linda Arvidson Linda Arvidson (born Linda Arvidson Johnson, July 12, 1884 – July 26, 1949; sometimes credited as Linda Griffith) was an American stage and film actress who became one of America's early motion picture stars while working at Biograph Studios i ...

wrote a memoir about her time with her husband D. W. Griffith after their separation, about her time working in the movie industry during the earliest years with him. Griffith was coming down from his enormous success of his film

Enoch Arden (1911 film) ''Enoch Arden'' is a two-part 1911 short silent drama film, based on the 1864 Tennyson poem of the same name. It was directed by D. W. Griffith, starred Wilfred Lucas and featured Blanche Sweet. A print of the film survives in the film archiv ...

and wanted to make a film because he "listened to the call of the desert". They went to California because other companies were setting up there and the Griffiths wanted to take advantage of California's offerings in the early beginning of Los Angeles. Their company was on salary at this time and went on to California with a few scripts to produce movies. Mrs. Griffith refers to the film in her own words as a "big epic of a pioneer romance". She goes on to describe how the camp to film the movie looked like a small town because of the expansive crew and extras working on set, the regulars of the film and the women extras were put up in a nearby hotel. They had to do a retake because there was static within the film. Mrs. Griffith goes on to praise the artistic direction of the film compared to the "salacious" others during their day.Arvidson 1925, p. 198 - 200.

Notes

References

* Fenin, George N. (1962). "The Western, from Silents to Cinerama". Orion Press. * Arvidson, Linda (1925). "When the Movies Were Young". E.P. Dutton. * Usai, Paolo Cherchi (2008). "The Griffith Project: Vol. 5: Films Produced in 1911". British Film Institute. * Usai, Paolo Cherchi (2008). "The Griffith Project Vol. 11: Selected Writings by D.W. Griffith; Indexes and Corrections to Volumes 1-10". British Film Institute.

External links

*
''The Last Drop of Water''
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Drop Of Water, The 1911 films 1911 Western (genre) films 1911 short films American black-and-white films American silent short films Films directed by D. W. Griffith Films set in deserts Films with screenplays by Stanner E.V. Taylor Silent American Western (genre) films 1910s American films 1910s English-language films