Silent Film of the Month: A Trap for Santa Claus (1909)

 

Run Time: 16 minutes. Studio: American Biograph. Director: D.W. Griffith. Main Cast: Henry B. Walthall, Marion Leonard, Gladys Egan, John Tansey, Kate Bruce, William J. Butler. Cinematographer: G.W. Bitzer.

It may seem like the concept of a Christmas film with a cynical edge would be a relatively recent one. The thought that such a concept dates back to the days of D.W. Griffith may seem absurd. However, Griffith's early Christmas film, A Trap for Santa explores some dark and heavy themes alongside its yuletide setting. While this film is not without its Christmas charm, it does not sugarcoat the darker themes of its story. 

At the start of this short film, an unemployed father (Henry B. Walthall) with no money for Christmas presents is seen getting drunk in a bar. He comes home completely intoxicated and scares his wife and daughter. He then decides to leave feeling that he can offer nothing but pain for his wife and children. Eventually things get so desperate for him that he decides to rob his own wife and children's house. At the same time the children decide to set a trap to see if they can capture Santa Claus. 

While this lacks the ahead of their time filmmaking techniques that Griffith's later films are known for, this short makes up for this with strong storytelling. One of Griffith's most overlooked talents was to tell a surpassingly complex story in a short amount of time. This is overlooked because Griffith's is best known for his longer length epics such as Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916). Yet the short films he made for American Biograph earlier in his career, show that he is perfectly able to tell a complex story in a compact amount of time. This is especially evident here. Despite the short runtime the story never feels rushed but seems to play out naturally. The filmmaking also makes the storyline easy to follow without the plethora of intertitles that would populate Griffith's later work. The story itself is very intelligent mixing the dark subject matter with a sense of Christmas sentimentality. Like Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1947), this short has its heartwarming and sentimental moments but we have to make it through some pretty dark and grim moments to get there. This however makes the heartwarming moments feel all the more rewarding. All of this makes this a real Christmas classic and one of Griffith's more underrated efforts.      

For anyone interested in watching this wonderful film, it can be seen on YouTube below.