User Reviews

When the pretty gypsy's boyfriend abandons her for a well-dressed rich lady, the gypsy realizes that she needs to dress more fashionably in this transitional piece.

D.W. Griffith had hectored his bosses at Biograph into spending more money on his cast's wardrobe, and it shows here. This short looks like it was made to show off that big-budget item. However, Griffith was in an experimental ferment and this short subject was an attempt to tell a story without titles.

Unfortunately for the modern viewer, the fact that all that Marion Leonard needs to do to make Harry Solter go gaga for her is to spend a lot of money on fashionable clothes will probably make no sense to the modern viewer, who will see her change from her work clothes to her evening clothes and not get the distinction. Also obscure may be the variations in acting register: people in gypsy costume make large, stagey motions, while rich society people -- or people who dress like them -- are much more restrained in their actions.

Clearly Griffith is moving towards a new style of motion picture acting, far more restrained, that will eventually sweep through the industry. Equally clearly, a modern viewer will not be able to understand these technical changes.... nor should he.

Doubtless the contemporary audience saw this comedy of class markers and thought it a good enough part of a film program. Griffith's handling of crowd scenes is impeccable and his editing is fine -- even to a modern viewer, this one will make sense with only a bit of coaching. Nonetheless, the failure of several of Griffith's experiments in this one makes it only of technical interest.

D.W. Griffith's early silent films are a hit or miss endeavor. Some still hold up well today but many do not--mostly because of Griffith's antiquated style. One of the worst things about these films, in my opinion, is that he never seemed to feel comfortable using intertitle cards and because of that you often had no idea WHAT is happening. A film with only a very few of these cards is pretty much the norm for Griffith, though "The Lure of the Gown" is MUCH worse as it has none-- not a single card explaining what is happening. So, as the audience sits there and watches the actors overacting, they are left baffled as to what's occurring! Overall, a confusing mess of a film that is clearly among Griffith's worst films.

Lure of the Gown, The (1909)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Griffith comedy about a man dumping his poorly dressed girlfriend when he sees another woman in a rich gown. To get revenge, the old girlfriend dresses herself up so that other men will come after here. The film is decent enough but does get a nice laugh when the revenge act comes into play. If you look quickly you can see Dorothy West, Mack Sennett and Griffith cinematographer G.W. Bitzer.

You can find this short on Grapevine's D.W. Griffith: The Director series.

The 34 year old D.W. Griffith is constructing a social identity for the American nation in this short film. The acting was poor, and it delivered a Sunday Roast with bland vegetables rather a chicken curry. It was tasteless, and the writing was awful.