Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
Encyclopedia
Rescued from an Eagle's Nest is a 1908 early silent
action-drama
co- directed by Edwin S Porter and J. Searle Dawley
for the Edison film studios.
This silent is particularly notable not only as an example of early motion picture work, but for the actor who walks out of a cabin in the opening scene - future director D. W. Griffith
in his first film acting role. Broke and stranded in NY after a play he authored failed and lured by the studio's offer of $15 per treatment, Griffith approached Edison studios with a script idea. Porter rejected Griffith's treatment, which was based on the Puccini opera Tosca, but offered him the lead role in this production. Griffith accepted and six months later directed his first film for Biograph. Eagle is one of only two surviving film performances by the director as an actor.
A print of the film survives in the Museum of Modern Art
film archive.
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
action-drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
co- directed by Edwin S Porter and J. Searle Dawley
J. Searle Dawley
J. Searle Dawley was an American director and screenwriter. He directed 149 films between 1907 and 1926. He was born in Del Norte, Colorado and died in Hollywood, California.-Selected filmography:...
for the Edison film studios.
This silent is particularly notable not only as an example of early motion picture work, but for the actor who walks out of a cabin in the opening scene - future director D. W. Griffith
D. W. Griffith
David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
in his first film acting role. Broke and stranded in NY after a play he authored failed and lured by the studio's offer of $15 per treatment, Griffith approached Edison studios with a script idea. Porter rejected Griffith's treatment, which was based on the Puccini opera Tosca, but offered him the lead role in this production. Griffith accepted and six months later directed his first film for Biograph. Eagle is one of only two surviving film performances by the director as an actor.
A print of the film survives in the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
film archive.
Cast
- D. W. GriffithD. W. GriffithDavid Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera...
- Father - Henry B. WalthallHenry B. WalthallHenry Brazeale Walthall was an American film actor.-Career:Walthall began his career as a stage actor, appearing on Broadway in a supporting role in William Vaughn Moody's The Great Divide in 1906–1908. His career in movies began in 1908, in the film Rescued from an Eagle's Nest, which also...
- Woodsman (as H. B. Walthall) - Miss Earle
- Jinnie Frazer - Baby