Sarentrol Masterful Cinema

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "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.

calvinnme You'd never guess this was a D.W. Griffith short if somebody didn't tell you. Griffith's shorts usually weren't THAT short, and they were also usually dramatic. Here Griffith shows his comic side and a Keatonesque flair before there such a thing as Keatonesque.People are sitting in a movie theatre complete with musical accompaniment when not only do some people come in late, but the women have on some ridiculous headgear. Maybe it was appropriate for the time. A commotion is stirred, and finally a way is found to make them remove their hats that, again, I say was Keatonesque. You have a film within a film (it's what the people are watching), a mechanical device that is the hero, and then some guy with an obvious false nose and mustache that just happens to be Mack Sennett, early employer of Roscoe Arbuckle, who was the guy who actually got Keaton interested in film.

Michael_Elliott Those Awful Hats (1909) *** (out of 4) D.W. Griffith comedy about a movie crowd getting angry because the women's large hats are blocking the screen. This is shorter than most of the shorts from this period but it's a very funny little gem.Adventures of Dollie, The (1908) *** 1/2 (out of 4) The first (of 400+) film directed D.W. Griffith is about a pair of gypsies who kidnap a three-year-old girl. When the girl's parents come looking for her the gypsies hide her in a barrel, which they accidentally drop in the river. Griffith's skill is certainly in full display here as his use of editing is right on the mark as he builds suspense of the girl going down the river. A wicked sense of humor is also on display here.

wes-connors Early film short directed by D.W. Griffith; it might be more accurately called a "short short" at barely three minutes. It is entertaining, though. The director is saying, "Ladies, please remove your hats!" Why? Because you can't match a movie when some woman parks herself in front of your seat, and leaves her HUGE hat on.There are some early silent film stars in attendance - obviously Flora Finch, Linda Arvidson, and Florence Laurence. Mack Sennett is the man with the finny nose and the checkered suit. The men are not easy to identify, with their backs turned; but, that must be Robert Harron in the lower right of your screen, going crazy over "Those Awful Hats".The film really MOVES… all the time, there is movement ALL OVER the screen. Ms. Arvidson recalled, in her autobiography, "How many times that scene was rehearsed and taken! It grew so late and we were all so sleepy that we stopped counting. But pay for overtime evolved from this picture." ***** Those Awful Hats (1/25/09) D.W. Griffith ~ Flora Finch, Mack Sennett, Robert Harron, Linda Arvidson