The Worst Film Ever

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

D.W Griffith's "The Sealed Room" basically is a variation on Griffith's interest on French-esque settings inspired from his obsession with French Film D'art School. ... Even with that in mind, I personally feel that it had his calibre in concentrating with emotional turmoil and his blueprint of heart filled vignettes in a great state of pandemonium. The human condition is seldom analysed, but the real external floods of it are definitely overt.Henry B Walthall, famous for the Confederate he played subsequently in "Birth of a Nation" plays a grandiose man and owner of a castle. He is in love with another woman and is in conflict with an interloper who is trying to raid his castle; he is sealed from any physical contact, surviving through hope, love and courage - However way they are integrated, it leaves on an open ending notwithstanding that. To me this is a quintessential movie to be viewed; the delicate and careful readiness of costume design and interiors, while very worn out, feels valuable to me and every bit of architecture in the movie. Albeit it lacks suspense, the movie ventures into an amazing Period and Foreign type of Genre, with elements that revive the early cinema novelty.

Had this movie been made a few years later, I would have given it a lower score. However, for 1909, this was a dandy little movie and still stands up pretty well today. Just don't try to compare this silent film to later silents--the industry changed so radically that the shorts of the first decade of the 20th century don't look at all like movies made in the 1910s and beyond.This movie is 11 minutes long (about average for most films back then) and is a variation of the Edgar Allen Poe story, THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO. While many are familiar with the story, I won't elaborate further as I don't want to ruin the film. Just suffice to say that it's very creepy!!

There are enough positives to this short feature to make it a decent rendering of the idea of "The Sealed Room", familiar from a number of horror stories. The leading performers all give plenty of energy to their performances, and for the most part they are believable. Among its best aspects are the scenery and the costumes, which make the general atmosphere convincing. The physical limitations of the sets and the fixed camera field do, though, somewhat hinder how well the "sealed room" effect can work.The story is simple, and at one or two points its plausibility is rather strained. But it is the kind of macabre tale that holds your attention in spite of yourself. There have probably been other versions that were more effective, but this one tells the story clearly and efficiently, and it works reasonably well.

This early Biograph short was so much fun to watch. The second on disc one of D.W. Griffith's "Years of Discovery" DVD set (highly recommended) it features three excellent performances by the main leads, and interesting to see Henry B. Walthall (The Little Colonel, Birth of a Nation) as a campy musician giving a Countess the eye (and other things).The Countess' husband goes berserk at his wife's betrayal and has her walled into a little room with her paramour. It's kind of incredible that they wouldn't hear the wall going up, but hey, maybe the wine had something to do with it. Here Mr. Johnson (father of silent player Raymond Hackett) gesticulates wildly and this adds to the melodrama, but in an unexpectedly comical way. The best moment comes at the end. As the lady passes out from shock and fear, once she realizes she's doomed, Henry picks up his instrument and "fans" it over her. The way he did it was so unexpected and in a strange way kind of sexy, and I just lost it, and laughed my head off. The expression on his face! From that moment I was charmed by Henry B. Walthall.