''Rescued from an Eagle's Nest'' is a 1908 American silent action-

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film produced by Edwin S. Porter for

Edison Studios Edison Studios was an American film production organization, owned by companies controlled by inventor and entrepreneur, Thomas Edison. The studio made close to 1,200 films, as part of the Edison Manufacturing Company (1894–1911) and then Tho ...

and directed by

J. Searle Dawley James Searle Dawley (October 4, 1877 – March 30, 1949) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, stage actor, and playwright. Between 1907 and the mid-1920s, while working for Edison, Rex Motion Picture Company, Famous Playe ...

. It features the first leading screen role of the legendary American filmmaker

D. W. Griffith David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the n ...

, whose directorial debut was released just six months after he performed in this production. Griffith's casting in the Edison film began when he found himself stranded and broke in New York City after a play he authored had failed. Desperate for money, he responded to Edison's offer to pay $15 to anyone who submitted a useable treatment or

scenario In the performing arts, a scenario (, ; ; from Italian , "that which is pinned to the scenery") is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the ''commedia dell'arte'', it was an outline of entrances, exits, and actio ...

based on the Puccini opera ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

''. Porter rejected Griffith's submission, but the studio executive did offer him the lead role in ''Rescued from an Eagle's Nest''. A full print of this film survives in the extensive collection of moving images at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

. Only one other film in which Griffith appears as an actor survives.

Plot

A woodsman leaves a hut followed by a woman with their baby. Nearby some men chop down a tree. The baby is left outside the hut, but an eagle flies away with it. The mother comes outside and sees what has happened. She picks up a gun and aims, but decides against it. She tells the woodsmen and they get to the cliff where the eagle's nest is. One of the men is let down on a rope to the nest. However the eagle attacks, but he kills it and kicks it off the cliff. He then picks up the baby, is hoisted up the cliff, and returns the baby to its mother.

Cast

as father * Henry B. Walthall as fellow woodsman * Miss Earle as mother * Jinnie Frazer as Baby

Production and reception

Most of the production was filmed indoors on sets at Edison's new studio facilities located at the intersection of Decatur Avenue and Oliver Place in the

Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

.Slide, Anthony
"Forgotten Early Directors"
''Aspects of American Film History Prior to 1920''. Metuchen, New Jersey and London: 1978, p. 42. Internet Archive. Retrieved July 29, 2020. The brief outdoor footage showing the woodsmen chopping down a tree was taken on the Palisades at

Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a Borough (New Jersey), borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop The Palisades (Hudson River), The Palisades. As of the 2020 Uni ...

. The simulations presented on screen of a stuffed, articulated eagle flapping its wings while appearing to hold a real child in flight no doubt thrilled some filmgoers in 1908; however, the reviewer at the time for ''

The Moving Picture World The ''Moving Picture World'' was an influential early trade journal for the American film industry, from 1907 to 1927. An industry powerhouse at its height, ''Moving Picture World'' frequently reiterated its independence from the film studios. ...

'' found the overall effect unconvincing. "The trick", he remarked, "of the eagle with its wire wings is too evident to the audience, while the fight between the man and eagle is poor and out of vision.""Editorial/Out Visits"
''The Moving Picture World'' (New York), February 1, 1908, p. 71.

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

, San Francisco. Retrieved August 8, 2020.

References

External links

* {{J. Searle Dawley 1908 films 1908 drama films 1908 short films Silent American drama short films American black-and-white films Films directed by J. Searle Dawley Films shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey Articles containing video clips 1900s American films Silent American action drama films Surviving American silent films

Plot

Cast

Production and reception

See also

References

External links