A FLASH OF LIGHT is a standard one-reel melodrama from DW Griffith. The storyline involves a chemist who goes blind in a lab accident. His haughty, disdainful wife, already out of love with him, takes to the stage while her sister-in-law nurses the chemist as he tries to have his sight restored. The sister-in-law wears the wife's wedding band in order to make the chemist believe his beloved wife has not abandoned him, but with the restoration of his sight imminent and the wife's newfound success as a stage actress inspiring her to get a divorce, the charade can only go on for so long.
Melodramatic in the extreme, but with good acting and inspired filmmaking, Griffith could usually make such a farfetched plot work. Not here: the actors are not up to the standards of Griffith favorites like Lillian Gish and Blanche Sweet, either coming off as overdone stereotypes or barely registering as personalities whatsoever. The filmmaking is competent but nothing to write home about either. Overall, the short is solid for what it is, but you could do yourself much better by watching THE NEW YORK HAT or A CORNER IN WHEAT.
Melodramatic in the extreme, but with good acting and inspired filmmaking, Griffith could usually make such a farfetched plot work. Not here: the actors are not up to the standards of Griffith favorites like Lillian Gish and Blanche Sweet, either coming off as overdone stereotypes or barely registering as personalities whatsoever. The filmmaking is competent but nothing to write home about either. Overall, the short is solid for what it is, but you could do yourself much better by watching THE NEW YORK HAT or A CORNER IN WHEAT.