Tetrady not as good as all the hype

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

DLewis In the 1930s the Museum of Modern Art discovered an old print of this title and recognized director D.W. Griffith as the young woodsman and the hero of this picture. From Griffith, MOMA got the idea that "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest" was his first film appearance, made in 1907 before he arrived at Biograph. The old man's memory may have been playing tricks on him, as we know now that Griffith joined Biograph late in 1907 and "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest" was apparently the sole instance where Griffith picked up a role outside of the Biograph studio. The experience must have been valuable to him, because -- unlike the hapless, inept and inexperienced Wallace McCutchen Jr. at Biograph -- Porter and Dawley were smart and efficient in making films, and Griffith probably brought their practices into place when he finally replaced the younger McCutcheon at Biograph. I'm not quite sure why established writing on "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest" always emphasizes how silly and banal this Nickelodeon-era short is; Porter's special effect of the eagle carrying away the baby is very well made for 1908, and as the audience for this piece would have been mostly women and children, it would have doubtlessly been effective in their eyes. The acting style may be a bit overwrought, but remember that the actors had to project from a distance, as it was still customary to present a stage-like perspective in motion pictures. Griffith himself would be one of the principal players in the art of variegating that distance to help establish the language of cinema as something apart from the typical theatrical experience, but in January 1908 that was still in the future. Griffith's one or two days spent working for Edison can be seen as something that helped to ground the lofty actor in basic filmmaking, even if as an old man he didn't really remember much of the particulars regarding this shoot.

wes-connors D.W. Griffith gets his ax, kisses his wife, and tweaks his baby; then, Woodsman Griffith is off to work. While he's chopping down trees, a huge Eagle swoops down and kidnaps his unattended baby. Mother emerges and discovers the Eagle has taken her child; she picks up a rifle, but, wisely, thinks before shooting at the airborne pair. Instead, she goes to get Griffith and his fellow woodsmen, who must see that the baby is "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest".Notable for its star, Lawrence Griffith, who would soon begin unprecedented success as film Director D.W. Griffith. The "special effects" look very phony - and, that baby has incredibly odd looking feet, while in flight! Griffith's final battle with the Eagle is mildly interesting, but there isn't much else here. It might have been a fair film if Edison and company had the bird nesting in a tree cut, or likely to be chopped down, by the woodsmen. Or, they could have made the bird a Vulture… ** Rescued from an Eagle's Nest (1/16/08) J. Searle Dawley ~ D.W. Griffith, Henry B. Walthall, Miss Earle

José Luis Rivera Mendoza (jluis1984) In 1908, a 34 year old playwright named D.W. Griffith was having little success with his plays and decided to try his luck in the newly formed movie industry with an adaptation of "Tosca" he intended to sell to the film studios of the Edison Manufacturing Company. The head of the studio at the time was film pioneer Edwin S. Porter, who wasn't really impressed with Griffith's work as a writer but, since Griffith was also an actor, Porter decided to hire him and send him to director J. Searle Dawley. A former theater director (he liked to called himself as "the first professional motion picture director"), Dawley immediately chose Griffith for the main role in his new film: "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest". It would be in this early adventure film where D.W. Griffith would have his first contact with the movie industry and where he would first learn the crafts that would make him a legendary filmmaker in the following years."Rescued from an Eagle's Nest" is the story of a woodsman's family and the extraordinary adventure they live one day while the Father (D.W. Griffith) was outside working. After the father leaves the house, the Mother (Miss Earle) begins her own housework and leaves the child (Jinnie Frazer) outside to play. While the mother is inside the cabin, a big eagle descends from the sky and takes the child away. The mother notices the eagle kidnapping the kid, but it's too late for her to save him, so she runs to the woods in order to tell her husband about it. After hearing what has happened to his child, the lumberjack and his mates run together to the mountains. When they find the nest, they discover that it's very difficult to reach it, so the Woodsman takes a rope with him and begins to climb down. However, before returning home he'll have to face the eagle that kidnapped his kid.As usual with the early movies from the Edison Manufacturing Company, it can't be known for sure who exactly wrote the screenplay of the film, but considering director J. Searle Dawley's background, it is highly probable that it was all Dawley's creation expanding from one of his or Porter's ideas. The story of "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest" is pretty simple and has almost no characterization, focusing on the action and adventure that the Woodsman faces to save his kid. In this sense, the movie works like a folktale put on film, as it is concerned more about the adventure in itself than about the characters. While simple in its construction, the plot of "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest" remains so universal that is hard not to feel thrilled by the Woodsman's adventure.In "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest", director J. Searle Dawley truly shows a better understanding of the new options that film offered him as a narrative language, and moves further away from the idea that movies were simply plays on film. The influence of Edwin S. Porter (who was in charge of cinematography in this movie) can be seen in many scenes as Dawley employs several of the editing techniques that Porter originated in his 1903 seminal classic, "Life of an American Fireman" (Techniques that Griffith would further develop in his own films). This is reflected in the very original ways the movie uses edition and its primitive special effects to play with action and suspense in order to thrill and surprise the audience. By our standards, the effects look poor and clichéd, but it was definitely a step ahead in its time.As written above, the film focuses entirely on the family's adventure without leaving too much for character development, so it would be not only difficult but also unfair to judge the performances of the cast on those terms. So considering that they were playing basically archetypes, it could be said that the whole cast was actually good, as there rarely was any overacting (so common in the early days of cinema) and everyone seemed to know what to do. It is obviously interesting to see D.W. Griffith as the Woodsman, and his performance doesn't disappoint. His fight with the eagle is a very good scene that forecasts similar scenes in future action movies like the ones with Douglas Fairbanks. Even when she was not a professional actress (or probably because of that very reason), Miss Earle is very good and looks very natural in her concern for her baby.While the film still feels stagy at times, it was a step ahead in the development of the language of cinema that spawned an entire series of imitators that further developed the adventure genre (even Griffith himself would use the same basic plot of a kidnapped child in his first movie, "The Adventures of Dollie"). To call this movie clumsy or uneven and judge it under our standards is criminally unfair, as while "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest" is not a perfect movie, it is not only actually very good for its time but it also helped to set the basis for the action and adventure films of today. "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest" is not only a must see for Griffith fans interested on his first work, it is also an amusing short movie for fans of early action movies and silent film in general. 7/10

Delphian "Rescued from an Eagle's Nest" provides a rare view of famed director D. W. Griffith as an actor working on-camera instead of behind it. That said there is not many other reasons to watch this film.Unfortunately, the copy I saw was in very bad condition, but still even a sharp picture would not better this far-fetched tale. Possible spoiler A large bird that appears more like a chicken than an eagle snatches a baby while a distraught mother stands helplessly by. In what was probably a marvel of special effects for the time, the bird flys with the baby clutched in its claws not only forward but backward in a hideously fake and clumsy way. It arrives at a cave in a high cliff where Griffith fights to free the baby. The awkward, over-acted fight is almost as ridiculous as the flight of the bird.Mercifully the film is only a couple of minutes long. It's hard to believe that this film is from the same man - Edwin S. Porter - who brought us the wonderful "The Great Train Robbery" in 1903. Sadly Porter climaxed with that early film, never again reaching its greatness. A must for early cinema buffs, but for everybody else one to avoid.