The Planter's Wife (1908) Poster

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4/10
Early Melodramatic Griffith
boblipton7 January 2023
Claire McDowell is tired of the exhausting routine of being the hardworking wife of farmer Arthur Johnson. When he sets out for the fields, she abandons home and baby to run off with Harry Solter, but her sister, Florence Lawrence pursues her and restores her to home.

D. W. Griffith had been directing for only four months when this one-reel melodrama came out, and there's little of cinematic interest here, although the shots at Little Falls in New Jersey are quite lovely. There is some interest in character differentiation, as Miss Lawrence is lively as "Tomboy Nellie", far from Griffith's usual Victorian adolescent. Still, there is some tightening up in the editing; however, the long shots, arm-waving pantonmime, the lack of the Biograph Right Wall and the absence of the tight alternation of pursuer and pursued that would become a hallmark of his chases is still absent.
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Casting Problems
Single-Black-Male31 December 2003
The 33 year old D.W. Griffith literally went onto the streets to cast for the role of the husband in this film. He went up to a tall man who he thought looked like a husband and offered him the role. Apart from that, he relied on talent to turn up at the studio gates every morning for the off chance of work.
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