Swords and Hearts

Swords and Hearts (1911)

*** (out of 4)

A poor girl (Dorothy West) is secretly in love with her rich neighbor (Wilfred Lucas) but he's in love with another woman. He goes off to fight in the war but soon finds himself being chased by Union soldiers but the poor girl comes to his aid. After the war the boy returns home to see that his riches are now gone. Once again Griffith ventures into Civil War territory but at the same time he also gives his morality play about the rich. It's rather amazing to see how many of Griffith's shorts were attacking the rich but its done so with nice detail here. West delivers a very strong performance in the lead and Lucas comes off quite nice as well. There's no big battle scenes but most of the drama comes from one sequence where the Union soldiers burn down the house of the rich boy. Griffith was known for pushing his actors into dangerous situations and this looks like one of those cases. I'm not sure what type of safety procedures were taken but it looks like the two actors are in the burning house way too long and just barely escape. Also, as with His Trust and His Trust Fulfilled, Griffith shows the importance to the black servants helping their owners.