MartinHafer This was not the only film like this that D.W. Griffith made, as he later made a very similar one with the Gish sisters in similar straights. Regardless, it is very exciting and holds up well today.The film begins with a husband being lured from his home by some evil thieves. As soon as he's gone, the crooks break in and the wife takes her three daughters (one is Mary Pickford) into an adjoining room to safety. There she barricades the door against the three scum-bags. Just then, the husband calls and the wife tells him of their plight--and he rushes home to try to save them. Will he be too late? This is a very, very simple plot and works effectively. The acting is reasonable and the action exciting. A very good film for its day.

Robert J. Maxwell I'm not going to rate this short film because it's more than one hundred years old, so how can we judge it properly? (Was Napoleon a better general than Alexander the Great?) In 1909 the automobile and telephone had only just stopped being novelties. Films themselves were primitive. No roofs, so the shots could use available light. Most of the elements of a modern film are there -- a camera, sets, actors, cross cutting -- but too many are missing -- sound most of all.It's a melodrama in which a man, presumed to be a doctor, is called away from his home by a false alarm from three thieves. Once the pater familias is out of the house, the three sneaky-looking robbers break into the back room where the safe is. They have to force their way through three -- count 'em, three -- locked or barricaded doors. The terrified wife and the three lovely little daughters in white huddle together. Two of the miscreants make a bee-line for the safe, while the third assaults the wife.The helpless family is save by deus ex telephone, that marvelous and mysterious invention, for which this film is a kind of advertisement, like Dirty Harry's .44 magnum. The head of the house and some friends burst in and nab the robbers. Fade out on the father with his arms around his shivering but now safe family.The story reflects the values of D. W. Griffith, and the prevailing values of the period for all I know. I was just a child at the time. The wife is almost as helpless as the little tykes (all female). They need a man to protect them. Grown women are pure. Children are even purer -- pristine, in fact, or else why are they all dressed in white? There are good guys who are men of honor and there are bad guys, with little in between "good" and "evil". Things were only a bit more complicated by 1915 and "The Birth of a Nation." This short film is an historical curiosity, true, but carry me back to 1909. If only issues were quite as clear as the movies -- then and now -- make them out to be.Oh, also, at one on-line site at least, while you watch this, you're treated to a great rendition of Bach's magnificent and aptly dramatic Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

Michael_Elliott Lonely Villa (1909) ** 1/2 (out of 4)A gang lures a father away from his house so that they can rob it and terrorize his wife and three daughters. There's some great editing at the end that builds up the suspense but the direction isn't tight enough for it to work all the way through. Mary Pickford plays one of the children.Son's Return, The (1909) *** (out of 4)A son goes off to the big city to make big bucks. Years later he returns and ends up staying at his parents inn but they've forgotten him but when they see his cash, they plan to rob him. This Griffith short certainly goes "out there" in its story but I always enjoy these downbeat films where the director could do whatever he wanted and didn't always have to add a happy ending onto the film. Mary Pickford has a small part as the man's love.

Tomi Kuusisto This is a good example of an idea that Hollywood uses nowadays. Panic Room was an attempt to make this into a full length film, but it dragged too much to be very exciting. But this short silent film shows the same plot, but without all the unimportant excess. What is left is the original, good idea, and that makes up the whole film. Suspense is retained throughout. Quality film making and innovation that is all too rare now, almost 100 years later.