D. W. Griffith and the Biograph Company

The historical record indicates that many people perceived Griffith as the prime mover behind verisimilarly coded acting, while the film record indicates that the Biograph actors gradually adopted a new acting style. But what evidence helps us to assess Griffith’s involvement and influence in the transition to the verisimilar code? One might be inclined to treat Griffith’s claims in The New York Dramatic Mirror and subsequent interviews with some skepticism, for to do otherwise risks succumbing to the “great man, great artist” theory of film history. But unilaterally discounting the historical personage “David Wark Griffith” when investigating Biograph performance style