Friends
Plot
Set during the California Gold Rush, 'Friends' tells the story of Dora, a young orphan who becomes the object of affection for two gold miners. The miners, once close friends, find their relationship tested as they compete for Dora's love and attention in the rugged mining camp. As tensions rise between the two men, Dora must navigate her feelings and the dangerous circumstances of her frontier life. The film explores themes of friendship, rivalry, and loyalty against the backdrop of the American West during one of its most transformative periods. Ultimately, the story resolves with a moral lesson about the true value of friendship over romantic competition and the importance of maintaining human connections in challenging circumstances.
About the Production
Like many of Griffith's Biograph films from this period, 'Friends' was shot quickly on a modest budget as part of the company's high-output production schedule. The film utilized location shooting in California to capture the authentic Gold Rush setting, which was becoming a signature approach for Griffith's westerns. The production was part of Griffith's prolific 1912 output, during which he directed dozens of short films for Biograph, each typically completed in just a few days. The cast and crew worked with primitive equipment by modern standards, but Griffith was already developing techniques that would revolutionize cinema.
Historical Background
1912 was a pivotal year in American history and cinema. The country was in the Progressive Era, with social reform movements gaining momentum and women's suffrage becoming a major political issue. In the film industry, this period saw the transition from short films to feature-length productions, though shorts still dominated. The Biograph Company, where Griffith worked, was one of the leading production companies of the time, but would soon lose Griffith to more ambitious projects. This was also the year before Griffith would leave Biograph to form his own company, marking the beginning of his most ambitious period as a director. The film industry was still largely centered on the East Coast, with California just beginning to emerge as a major production center. The themes of Gold Rush and frontier life in 'Friends' resonated with contemporary audiences who were still relatively close to the actual historical period depicted.
Why This Film Matters
While 'Friends' may not be among Griffith's most famous works, it represents an important example of early American narrative cinema and the development of the Western genre. The film demonstrates Griffith's evolving approach to storytelling and his ability to work efficiently within the constraints of short-form cinema. It also showcases Mary Pickford in an early role before she became 'America's Sweetheart' and one of the most powerful women in Hollywood. The film's exploration of friendship and rivalry themes would become staples of Western cinema for decades to come. As part of the Biograph output, it contributes to our understanding of how American cinema was developing its unique visual language and narrative conventions. The film also reflects the enduring American fascination with the Gold Rush period and the mythology of the American West.
Making Of
The production of 'Friends' took place during a transitional period in American cinema, as filmmakers were moving from simple stage-like presentations to more sophisticated cinematic storytelling. D.W. Griffith was at the forefront of this evolution, experimenting with camera techniques, editing, and narrative structure that would become standard in the industry. The cast, particularly Mary Pickford, was already becoming recognizable to film audiences, helping to establish the star system that would dominate Hollywood. The filming likely involved challenging conditions on location in California, where the cast and crew had to work with primitive equipment in often harsh environments. Griffith was known for his demanding directing style and his ability to extract powerful performances from his actors, even in the short format of Biograph productions. The film was completed in just a few days, typical of the rapid production schedule at Biograph during this period.
Visual Style
The cinematography in 'Friends' would have been typical of Griffith's Biograph period, utilizing natural lighting when possible on location and basic studio lighting for interior scenes. The camera work was relatively static by modern standards, but Griffith was already beginning to experiment with different camera angles and movements to enhance storytelling. The California locations would have provided scenic backgrounds that added production value and authenticity to the Gold Rush setting. The film was shot in black and white, as was standard for the period, with no color tinting mentioned in available records. The cinematographer, likely G.W. Bitzer or another Biograph regular, would have worked with hand-cranked cameras requiring considerable skill to maintain consistent exposure and framing.
Innovations
While 'Friends' doesn't represent major technical innovations, it was part of Griffith's ongoing experimentation with film language. The film likely employed cross-cutting between different storylines, a technique Griffith was helping to pioneer and would perfect in later works. The use of location shooting in California was still relatively innovative for 1912, as many productions were still primarily studio-bound. The film would have demonstrated Griffith's growing mastery of continuity editing and his ability to tell a coherent story within the constraints of a short runtime. These techniques, while not revolutionary on their own, contributed to the development of cinematic language that would become standard in the industry. The film also represents the refinement of the close-up technique, which Griffith was helping to establish as an emotional storytelling device.
Music
As a silent film, 'Friends' had no recorded soundtrack. During exhibition, it would have been accompanied by live music, typically a piano or organ in smaller theaters and a small orchestra in larger venues. The musical accompaniment would have been selected from stock music libraries or possibly specially composed to match the mood of different scenes. The emotional moments would have been underscored with appropriate musical themes, while action sequences would have been accompanied by more dynamic music. No specific information about the original musical accompaniment for 'Friends' has survived, but it would have followed the common practices of the period, with music playing continuously throughout the screening to enhance the emotional impact of the visual storytelling.
Did You Know?
- This was one of many collaborations between D.W. Griffith and Mary Pickford during their Biograph period, before Pickford became one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood and co-founded United Artists.
- The film was released during a particularly productive year for Griffith, who directed over 60 short films in 1912 alone, averaging more than one per week.
- Henry B. Walthall would later star as 'The Little Colonel' in Griffith's controversial masterpiece 'The Birth of a Nation' (1915).
- Lionel Barrymore came from the famous Barrymore acting family and would continue working in films for another four decades, winning an Academy Award for 'A Free Soul' (1931).
- Like many films of this era, 'Friends' was shot on 35mm film at approximately 16 frames per second, which would appear faster when projected at modern speeds.
- The film is sometimes confused with other similarly titled works from the silent era, but this specific version is definitively the 1912 Griffith production.
- Biograph films from this period were typically distributed on a 'state's rights' basis, meaning different distributors handled different regions of the country.
- The film's running time of 17 minutes was relatively standard for dramatic shorts of the period, before feature-length films became the norm in the mid-1910s.
- This film was produced before the establishment of Hollywood as the center of American film production, when New York and New Jersey were still major filmmaking hubs.
- The Gold Rush setting would have resonated with 1912 audiences, many of whom had parents or grandparents who participated in westward expansion.
What Critics Said
Contemporary reviews of 'Friends' are scarce, as film criticism was still in its infancy in 1912. However, Biograph films generally received positive notices in trade publications of the period like The Moving Picture World and Variety. The film was likely praised for its scenic locations and the performances of its increasingly recognizable stars. Modern critics, when the film is accessible, tend to view it as a competent example of Griffith's early work, showing his developing directorial skills but lacking the ambition of his later features like 'The Birth of a Nation' or 'Intolerance'. The film serves as an important historical document of early American cinema and the development of the Western genre, providing insight into the storytelling techniques and thematic concerns of the period.
What Audiences Thought
Audience reception data for 1912 films is limited, but Biograph productions featuring popular stars like Mary Pickford generally performed well at the box office. The familiar themes of the Gold Rush and frontier life would have resonated with contemporary audiences, many of whom had personal or family connections to the westward expansion period. The rivalry between two friends over a woman was a proven formula that audiences of the time found engaging and emotionally satisfying. As with most films of this era, it would have been accompanied by live musical performance and possibly a lecturer who would explain the action to the audience. The film's short length made it ideal for the varied programming of nickelodeons and early movie theaters, where it might have been shown alongside other short films, newsreels, and comedy acts.
Film Connections
Influenced By
- Stage melodramas
- Contemporary literature about the West
- Earlier Biograph westerns
- Griffith's own previous work
- Popular dime novels about