Lillian Gish's wedding dress or oil money? Griffith makes you choose in 17 minutes.
A farmer has saved all his life to pay for his daughter's wedding, but when his brother is fired from his job on the oil rig, the wedding must be postponed and the money put to the more pressing need. The farmer, now himself destitute, is forced to put his house up for sale to repay his creditors. Meanwhile, a man from the oil syndicate discovers oil on the farmer's land. Moving quickly, the syndicate tries to buy the farm before the farmer knows what he is selling. -Harpodeon
Acting
Lillian Gish sells heartbreak in total silence.
Direction
Griffith's cross-cutting builds panic in minutes.
Director
D.W. Griffith
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Griffith shot this for Biograph in just two days during his prolific 1913 period, when he directed over 70 short films.
The oil land rush plot mirrors real 1910s California speculation scandals—Griffith turned economic anxiety into melodrama before Americans had words for 'housing crisis.'
US
