D. W. Griffith success; Biograph co-founder Harry Marvin gave Griffith the position, and he made the short "The Adventures of Dollie". He directed a total of 48 shorts for the company that year. His short "In Old California" (1910) was the first film shot in Hollywood, California. Four years later, he produced and directed his first feature film "Judith of Bethulia" (1914), one of the earliest to be produced in the US. Biograph believed that longer features were not viable at that point. According to Lillian Gish, the company thought that "a movie that long would hurt [the audience's] eyes". Griffith left Biograph
The Lonely Villa thieves break in. The father finds out what is happening and runs back home to try to save his family. "The Lonely Villa" was produced by the Biograph Company and shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey. It was released on June 10, 1909 along with another D.W. Griffith split-reel film, "A New Trick". The Lonely Villa The Lonely Villa is a 1909 American short silent crime drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. The film stars David Miles, Marion Leonard and Mary Pickford in one of her first film roles. It is based on the 1901 French play "Au Telephone"