The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (1913)

Synopsis
A besieged blockhouse containing a frightened Lillian Gish, marauding Indians, and a Mexican who heroically brings the cavalry to the rescue, are the none-too-original components of D.W. Griffith's endurable 2-reeler The Battle at Elderbush Gulch, made during the director's final year with Biograph. Griffith called the film his finest up to that time, and he might very well have been correct. It was, one could say, all in the editing, which here builds to a crescendo of excitement as Gish is rescued in the nick of time. Timeworn, yes, but the master knew what he was doing and demanded longer pictures in which to do it. The old-fashioned Biograph refused, and Griffith walked, taking with him the stars of "Elderbush Gulch": Mae Marsh, Gish and Robert Harron. They all reunited the following year for the director's masterpiece, the 12-reel The Birth of a Nation. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide