D.W. GriffithD.W. Griffith - A Corner in Wheat (1909)

A Corner in Wheat is a 1909 short film which tells of a greedy tycoon who tries to corner the world market on wheat, destroying the lives of the people who can no longer afford to buy bread. It was directed by D. W. Griffith and adapted by Griffith and Frank E. Woods from the novel The Pit (1903) by Frank Norris.

Intercutting (cross-cutting) between still tableaux of the poor in the bread line and the lavish, active parties of the wealthy speculator somewhat anticipates the collision montage which became a hallmark of the politically-charged Soviet cinema a decade or so later.

In 1994, A Corner in Wheat was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

This is the first film in which D.W. Griffith attempts social commentary. The scenario parallels the problems of a poor farmer and the dealings of an ill-fated "wheat king." Based on the novel "The Pit" by Frank Norris.

IMDb Profile: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000832/

This item is part of the collection: Feature Films

Producer: D.W. Griffith
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: D.W.; DW; Griffith; A; Corner; in; Wheat; 1909; important; legendary; classic; groundbreaking; good; film; movie; history; historical; social; commentary; America; American; timeless; unique; old; vintage; National; Film; Registry; Library; of; Congress

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Antsy - - January 7, 2008
Subject: Interesting light on DW Griffith

I haven't seen much of his early work, I didn't realize he did this kind of social commentary.

You can download the film if you click on the "FTP" or "HTML" links on the left side of the page. They will bring up menus which allow you to download it as an .flv file. (Or, if you have Firefox, get the DownloadHelper add-on, you can download most embedded movies directly with that.)

Would be nice to have it as an .avi or other higher quality file though.

Reviewer: GleanerJoe - - January 6, 2008
Subject: Corner in Wheat

Something wrong, no way to download this movie. I'd love to have a copy, as with any D.W. Griffith movies, especially his earlier ones like this one, which seems to be in good condition. Why isn't there a way provided to download it?