Sunday, January 1, 2017

Critical Response to D. W. Griffith's 1912 "Musketeers of Pig Alley" a 2016 selection of the National Film Registry

Crticial response (1912-1915) to D. W. Griffith's "Musketeers of Pig Alley" placed on the National Film Registry, 2016




A fan card designed for Lillian Gish circa late 1960s or eaerly 1970s. 



In The Chicago Daily Tribune of October 28, 1915, Flickerings from Filmland columnist Kitty Kelley, wrote,” Couldn't Get By. The following cutouts were ordered to films inspected by the municipal censor board at the city hall yesterday:  THE MUSKETEERS OF PIG ALLEY (Biograph).   Thugs assaulting man and subsequent scene of robbery; doping wine.”

Apparently, Griffith’s film, one of eleven films in that edition of the newspaper to have censored scenes, was too realistic for Chicago audiences. So said city hall film censors. The “doping wine” is a scene where a gangster places a power in Miss Gish’s drink. Spoiler alert: She is saved from drinking it. These censored scenes survive in the copy of the film preserved by the Library of Congress on the National Film Registry.

In the Amusements column of The Rome (New York) Daily Sentinel of December 21, 1912 had the following summary of “Musketeers of Pig Alley”:

“At the Casino (Theater) tonight the program is very well selected having a variety that cannot   help   but strike the pleasing point with all.  The Biograph picture, The Musketeers of Pig Alley, is an underworld story which will remind   many who see it of some recent happenings in New York City. There are gangs and gang feuds.    The whole production is handled with much care, and is a strong release. Much is printed from   time to time in the newspapers of the workings of gangsters, but the public gains but a vague   idea of the actual facts. Much has been done and is  still   being   done,  to  wipe  out  this   evil      which has  long   been   a   menace  to  the  respectable  citizen  and  this   picture   shows   the   situation   as   it  is,  and  the  extreme   necessity  for  radical   action  on  the  part  of  the authorities. While the theme of the story is  decidedly interesting  and exciting,  it  also   serves  as  a  consistent  vehicle  to  present  the  facts.”

Note: “Musketeers of Pug Alley” put images of gangster life before 1912 audiences thus making “this evil” more gripping and startling to viewers. It helped in policing and in public awareness and participation with law enforcement. It also allowed audiences to see the important role law enforcement officers have and the dangers they face. The film shows gunfights and brawls between police and gangsters.  

An advertisement for “Musketeers of Pig Alley” in the same paper for December 21, 1912, read: “’MUSKETEERS    OF   PIG ALLEY" A depiction of gangster evil. This Biograph picture is especially good even for them. It’s very exciting and a typical New York story. Note: As Miss Gish said whenever I congratulated her on having one of her films placed on the National Film Registry: “It [the film] has stood the test of time.”

Admission to “Musketeers of Pig Alley,” on a double bill with “The Supreme Test,” described as an Essanay film, was 5 cents.

In 1970 Miss Gish appeared in Schenectady, New York, with her one-woman program, “Lillian Gish and the Movies,” at the Proctor Theater sponsored by the American Theater League. The ATL used a mixed photograph of Lillian that featured a scene from “The Musketeers of Pig Alley.”

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Jim Patterson, Editor
LDGish.blogspot.com

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