Those Awful Hats (1909)

"Those Awful Hats" is a little movie from 1909, so this is of course silent and black-and-white. And it is also very short, only runs for 2.5 minutes. It is among the more known works by silent filmmaker D.W. Griffith. I believe the man today is known mostly for his dramatic films from that time and 1909 was one of his most prolific years. He was in his mid-30s at this point. But here, he tries to take the comedic road. I would not say it is a failure, but he probably did well in leaving this genre to the likes of Chaplin, Lloyd, Laurel, Hardy and Keaton in the following years. Here we have a hat comedy. There is a stage performance, but gigantic hats wreak havoc, for example as some audience members cannot see anything because of the gigantic hat in front of their faces. But a solution is coming quickly and the lady may not like it. All in all, nothing too bad or good, I did not find it very memorable and give it a thumbs-down. Griffith has done better on many other occasions.

A very amusing D. W. Griffith short featuring an appearance by future producer/director Mack Sennett. The entire 3-minute short, Those Awful Hats, takes place in a nickelodeon as we see an audience watching a movie up on the screen (one of the earliest depictions of a film-within-a-film scene). Most of the action concerns ladies who won't take off their hats. There is one particular lady who gets so obnoxious about it a steel bucket takes it from her! After the other ladies take theirs off, another lady keeps making a scene by keeping hers on, so that bucket then takes her up! The end. Well worth seeing for fans of Griffith, Sennett, and anyone interested in early movie history. I managed to see this one on YouTube.

While I have enjoyed some of D. W. Griffith's full-length films, he did have a tendency to drag some of these movies out way too long as well as over-dramatize them from time to time. It's because of this that this short film is so unique! At only three minutes, it's a short and tidy little tale constructed in order to combat the growing size and complexity of women's hats in 1909. While the print from Kino Films was a bit poor in places, the movie was still worth seeing and quite entertaining. Many ladies crowd the tiny theater and the men are beside themselves trying to see the movie with all the huge hats. And, since the ladies WON'T take them off, someone at the theater has created a VERY unique way to combat the problem! See this film--it's funny and only takes up three minutes in your busy lifestyle!

This ultra-short film (only 2 minutes long) uses very rudimentary techniques, but it's rather interesting. It's about a theater full of people watching a movie, so there are two different screens combined into one image, and while the 'special effect' is not very good by the standards of later eras, it was probably a clever idea for its time. The light-hearted nature of this feature is an interesting contrast to the ultra-serious films that Griffith usually made.