The story of the angry drunkard returning home to frighten his wife and kids was a frequent idea explored throughout the early days of cinema. Out of the many early films I've seen, the main one that comes to mind is Robert W. Paul's "Buy Your Own Cherries" from 1904, which dealt with the exact same message as well as a very similar story. The main difference between that and D. W. Griffith's "A Drunkard's Reformation" is the means by which the drunkard is reformed. Paul's film has less development to the reformation, while Griffith uses a key device to bring about the change: that is, the morality play. In that sense, Griffith's short is far more innovative in how it tells its story, although when it comes to hitting home the message, his other work of the same year, "What Drink Did", is far more powerful.
The film begins with the drunkard returning home and abusing his wife before reluctantly taking his daughter to a play. Unbeknownst to him, the play is a morality-based story that manages to convince him into reforming. As far as D. W. Griffith's early films go, there is little evidence of emerging camera technique in this one; the main development in "A Drunkard's Reformation" is when the camera cross-cuts between the reaction of the father in the audience and the action onstage, which Griffith would later perfect to build suspense masterfully. Otherwise, the film uses the typical long shots of the actors that were common at the time, showing how far the director had to go in his technique. As it is, an interesting and worthwhile short film for silent film fanatics.
The film begins with the drunkard returning home and abusing his wife before reluctantly taking his daughter to a play. Unbeknownst to him, the play is a morality-based story that manages to convince him into reforming. As far as D. W. Griffith's early films go, there is little evidence of emerging camera technique in this one; the main development in "A Drunkard's Reformation" is when the camera cross-cuts between the reaction of the father in the audience and the action onstage, which Griffith would later perfect to build suspense masterfully. Otherwise, the film uses the typical long shots of the actors that were common at the time, showing how far the director had to go in his technique. As it is, an interesting and worthwhile short film for silent film fanatics.