| Summary: | INVERTED NARRATIVES is part of the retrospective UNSEEN CINEMA that explores long-forgotten American experimental cinema. Director of more than 500 films, David Wark Griffith's influence on the development of cinema language - ones that define both analytic editing and acting for camera - cannot be overstated. Photographed at Biograph's New York studio and in Fort Lee, New Jersey, from June 25 to July 2 and released August 11, 1910, this is D.W. Griffith's 244th film and one of 86 he directed that year. It is daring in its attempt to cover many years in only one reel, and shows skills in its handling of crowds and battles. --DAVID SHEPARD Just as "Intolerance" (1916) had become a formative influence on Russian cinema, "Broken Blossoms" (1921) became an important model for the French avant-garde. French experimental directors, like Louis Delluc, Marcel L'Herbier, and Germaine Dullac, tried consciously to emulate its atmospheric effects, imbuing slums and their denizens with a dreamy, symbolic resonance ... For a time "Broken Blossoms" vied with "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" as the ultimate example of the art film. --RUSSELL MERRITT 16mm from 35mm 1.33:1 black and white silent with music 18fps 17:05 minutes. Production American Biograph Co.
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