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A Corner in Wheat

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A Corner in Wheat
Film still of a man lying on the floor while several people try to attend to him
The dead wheat king at the grain elevator
Directed byD. W. Griffith
Written byFrank Norris (book)
Starring
  • Frank Powell
  • Grace Henderson
  • James Kirkwood
  • Linda Arvidson
  • W. C. Miller
  • Gladys Egan
  • H. B. Walthall
  • Blanche Sweet
CinematographyG. W. Bitzer
Distributed byAmerican Mutoscope and Biograph Company
Release date
  • December 13, 1909 (1909-12-13)
Running time
approx. 15 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

A Corner in Wheat[1] is a 1909 American short silent film which tells of a greedy tycoon who tries to Cornering the market in wheat, destroying the lives of the people who can no longer afford to buy bread. It was directed by D. W. Griffith and adapted by Griffith and Frank E. Woods from a novel and a short story by Frank Norris, titled The Pit and "A Deal in Wheat".[2][3] Griffith may have had a real-life inspiration: six months earlier, James A. Patten had actually cornered the market in wheat, and in some cities, the price of bread doubled from five cents to ten, just as in the movie.[3][4]

In 1994, A Corner in Wheat was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[5][6]

Plot

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Two men sow a field by hand, while a third plows. Meanwhile, the "wheat king" comes up with idea to corner the market in the grain. He sends his underlings to the wheat pit to buy and sell. He dismisses the pleas of a "ruined man" devastated by his business manipulation.

As a result, the common folk have to pay double for bread, ten cents a loaf instead of five, or go without. A group of angry men have to be driven back from a baker at gunpoint by policemen.

The wheat king celebrates his triumph with a dinner party. He later takes his family and friends on a tour of the grain elevators. However, unseen by anyone, he falls into an elevator and is buried by the grain being poured in. He is finally fished out, but too late (see still photograph above).

In the final scene, the same farmer as at the beginning sows his field, though now he is alone.

Cast

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A Corner in Wheat (1909)

Release

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The film was released on December 13, 1909. Because of an upsurge in political populism, audiences reacted to the film positively. Before A Corner in Wheat, Griffith avoided making political statements in his work. After the film's success, he began to make bolder statements about society and politics, such as famously championing white supremacy in The Birth of a Nation (1915).[7]

Analysis and impact

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Griffith normally used intercutting (cross-cutting) to depict "converging lines of action"; here, however, the three narrative threads—the farmers, the wheat king, and the poor affected by his actions—never interact with each other.[8] Vlada Petrić states that this "anticipates Eisenstein's intellectual montage."[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ A Corner in Wheat. Biograph. 1909.
  2. ^ Henderson, Robert M. (1970). D. W. Griffith: The Years at Biograph. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 89.
  3. ^ a b Morra, Anna (March 15, 2012). "A Corner in Wheat". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved June 17, 2025.
  4. ^ Greising, David; Morse, Laurie (July 1, 1991). Brokers, Bagmen, and Moles: Fraud and Corruption in the Chicago Futures Markets. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 53–54. ISBN 9780471530572. Retrieved June 17, 2025.
  5. ^ "25 Films Added to National Registry". The New York Times. November 15, 1994. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  6. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  7. ^ Eagan, Daniel (2010). America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry. Continuum. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-4411-1647-5.
  8. ^ a b Ulman, Erik (June 2021). "A Corner in Wheat: An Analysis". Senses of Cinema. No. 14. Retrieved June 17, 2025.
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