They speak scornfully of this master, these newcomers in our industry. They say the parade has passed him, that he is out of touch with the developments of the modern screen. Why, Griffith is still so far ahead of the procession that his footprints are cold before the others reach them. Why, I don't think the other leaders in our world have even the faintest conception of what his goal is, what heights he longs to reach, what beauties and truths he yearns to put upon the screen. To comprehend something of what this director did, you must know something about where the pictures came from and their first faltering steps in the path to our present state.
Laughter is a lethal critic.
The only people who could have lifted the early pictures to a plane of dignity and accomplishment, the actors and actresses and directors of the speaking stage, viewed the movies with contempt. Just now I want to tell you how David Wark Griffith stepped into this welter of strangeness, this madhouse of a new art and a new industry in the process of being born, and completely revolutionized it. Probably the most trying barrier that confronted him were the demands of the men who were putting up those early investments, that only infallible hits be turned out, that only duplicates of films which had brought back a little interest on the investment be produced. For a long time Griffith, as well as the other directors, obeyed orders. Producer, director, writer, actor, cameraman, exhibitor, critic, and the public itself - all were guessing.