The Adventures of Dollie is a 1908 American silentdrama film directed by D. W. Griffith. It was Griffith's debut film as a director. A print of the film survives in the Library of Congress film archive.[1] The film tells the story of a young girl who, after being kidnapped by a peddler, ends up trapped in a barrel as it floats downriver toward a waterfall.
Plot
On a beautiful summer day a father and mother take their daughter Dollie on an outing to the river. The mother refuses to buy a passing peddler's wares. The peddler tries to rob the mother, but the father rushes up and drives away the ruffian. The peddler then returns to his nearby camp and devises a plan. He and his female companion return and kidnap Dollie while her parents are distracted. A rescue party is quickly organized to find the girl, but the peddler and companion take her back to their camp. They gag Dollie, put her in a wooden barrel, and seal its top before the rescue party arrives at the camp. Once the searchers leave, the peddler and his companion escape in their wagon. As the wagon crosses the river, the barrel falls into the water. Still sealed in the container, Dollie is swept downstream in dangerous currents. Soon a boy who is fishing along the riverbank finds the barrel, calls out to Dollie's frantic father to help him hoist it out of the water. The father unseals the barrel and daughter and parent are happily reunited.
The Biograph Company needed another director as it was planning to increase its output to two films per week, so Griffith, who was employed as a writer, was asked to direct this film. Arvidson, cast in the film as the Mother, was married to Griffith, but they maintained the marriage as a secret from the studio.[2]
