The Battle At Elderbush Gulch begins with Mae Marsh and her little sister meeting Lillian Gish and her family on the stagecoach bound for the frontier settlement of Elderbush Gulch. The girls arrival is welcomed with enthusiasm until the ranch foreman for their uncle, with whom theyve come to live, refuses to let them keep their two puppies in the house. Left outside, the pups run away and fall into the hands of two young Indians who, amazed at their good fortune, prepare to eat them. Marshs screams alert her uncle, who comes running with his gun and shoots one of the young braves. Unfortunately, the victim turns out to be the son of the chief. To avenge the death of his son, the chief organizes an attack on Elderbush Gulch. The action that follows is as suspenseful and exciting as any battle scene ever filmed, with Griffith cutting back and forth from the beseiged to the marauding Indians. Eventually the girls are reunited with their puppies and, presumably, everyone lives happily ever after. Aside from the superb performances of Mae Marsh (as one of the orphans) and Lillian Gish (as the young mother), it is Griffiths brilliant use of some very innovative cinematic techniques that makes The Battle At Elderbtlsh Gulch a masterpiece. These techniques, including camera movement, close-ups, dramatic lighting, parallel action, intercutting, crosscutting and rhythmic editing are common in every film made today, but Griffith was the first to use them to turn a performance into a picture, a picture into a story, a story into an audience experience. This film, which Griffith himself ranked as the third best film he ever made (after The Birth of a Nation and Judith of Bethuhu), dramatically demonstrates Griffiths mastery of the art the created. It is a landmark ~fIlm and a rare treasure for the serious cinema collector
From private collection Barely used
