MovieChat Forums > Within Our Gates (1920) Discussion > Pretty good movie

Pretty good movie

posted 14 years ago by Hancock_the_Superb
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Watched this in my film class tonight. I thought the story was all over the place and occasionally hard to follow, but it was interesting film - very pointed about racial issues, and an interesting deliberate rebuttal to Griffith's Birth of a Nation. The final scene intercutting the rape with the lynching is brilliant.

"If life gives you lemons, choke on 'em and die. You stupid lemon eater."

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] gribfritz2 10 years ago

I thought the story was all over the place and occasionally hard to follow

This. Things happen with no explanation. The trivia mentions it was hacked form 7-8 reels down to 6. It appears explanatory scenes were cut which would have made the film more coherent. Although, even so, shifting the entire narrative halfway through to a flashback alone ended up being an odd and sprawling choice.