The Goddess of Sagebrush Gulch. 1912. Directed by D. W. Griffith.

(2/11/00)

Blanche Sweet really shines in this one-reel Griffith picture. She becomes romantically involved with a man who decides he prefers her sister or friend. Sweet struggles with very human emotions of jealousy. When she learns of villains having this other woman hostage she at first is willing to let them get away with it, but then changes her mind. She really gets the character's emotions across, though it is hard to understand why the man involved would prefer the other woman to Blanche Sweet.

The ending might seem ridiculous to modern eyes in that Sweet's character finds another boyfriend in pretty short order. But I think it might have been necessary to collapse the action to tell a story like this in a one-reel film.

Some of the photography was especially lovely.