Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
About Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
A woodsman (D. W. Griffith) leaves a forest hut. His wife (Miss Earle) follows with their baby (Jinnie Frazer). Woodcutters are felling a tree nearby. The baby is left outside. An eagle carries the child to a cliff nest. The mother raises a gun and does not fire. The men reach the cliff. One is lowered on a rope, kills the eagle, and is hauled up with the baby.
Cast & crew
More about Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
J. Searle Dawley directed. Edwin S. Porter produced it for Edison and photographed it. Edison released it on 16 January 1908. It runs about 7 minutes. Griffith's part is his first leading film role. Henry B. Walthall plays a woodsman. Griffith's own first film as a director came about six months later. The eagle is a prop flown on wires.
Themes
Making
Porter cut the hut, the woodsmen, and the cliff into one chase, and hung the eagle so it could cross the frame with the baby.
Look
Edwin S. Porter photographed the hut, the tree-felling, and the rope descent at the cliff. A Fort Lee location is recorded.
Technique
The flying eagle is a stuffed bird on wires, matched to the actors at the nest.
Preservation
A print of about 7 minutes survives.
Notes
- Griffith had come to New York broke after a play he wrote failed. Edison cast him as the father.
- One listing gives 6 minutes and another 8. The print usually shown runs 7 minutes 18 seconds.
- The stills show the eagle in flight with the child in its claws.
- Porter, not Dawley, is the cameraman.
- The rescue uses a rope over the cliff edge, not a ladder.
Scenes
- The eagle lifts the baby from the ground in front of the hut.
- The mother aims and lowers the gun.
- The woodsman kills the eagle at the nest and comes up the rope with the child.
