History Film / ACornerInWheat

* TheFilmOfTheBook: Plot elements were drawn from two Frank Norris novels: ''The Pit'' (cornering the wheat market) and ''The Octopus'' (farmers whose lives were affected by Eastern financiers).

* LaserGuidedKarma: The financier trips and falls into a grain silo and is killed when he is buried by an avalanche of grain.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive
* DownOnTheFarm

* BookEnds: The farmer sowing wheat in the second scene of the film and the last.

!!Tropes:

* ArtImitatesArt: The shots of the farmer sowing wheat are a nod to Jean-François Millet's painting ''The Sower''.

* FadeOut: A very early use of this particular [[CameraTricks camera trick]], and maybe the first to use a slow Fade Out to reinforce a particular mood (in this case, the DownerEnding).

* TheFilmOfTheBook: Plot elements were drawn from two FrankNorris novels: ''The Pit'' (cornering the wheat market) and ''The Octopus'' (farmers whose lives were affected by Eastern financiers).

* {{Tableau}}: A unique use of this trope to establish mood. Twice--once when the poor people are lining up for bread, and once when the financier's body is discovered--the actors remain motionless while the camera rolls. The poor people in the breadline are presented frozen at the beginning, while the actors in the latter scene freeze upon discovering the body. The first scene is presented in contrast with the rich people having a fancy dinner.
* TwoLinesNoWaiting: Despite being only 14 minutes long the film manages to tell three separate plot threads--the financier cornering the market, the farmer struggling to grow and sell his wheat crop, and the urban bakery where customers suddenly can't get bread.

''A Corner in Wheat'' is a 1909 short film by cinema's first great director, Creator/DWGriffith. This 14-minute film (typical length for a feature of the day) depicts the results of a scheme by an unscrupulous financier to corner the wheat market. The financier makes an enormous fortune while inflicting misery on both the poor farmers who can't sell their wheat at market and the urban poor who can't afford to buy bread.

''A Corner in Wheat'' was a notable turning point in Griffith's artistic development and a harbinger for greater triumphs in years to come. It is generally regarded as his first major work. It's sophisticated editing (even today) and complex melding of different locations and storylines into a single whole greatly inspired the montage effects of the Soviet film theorists such as Pudovkin and Creator/SergeiEisenstein. It was inducted into the UsefulNotes/NationalFilmRegistry in 1994.

''A Corner in Wheat'' was a notable turning point in Griffith's artistic development and a harbinger for greater triumphs in years to come. It is generally regarded as his first major work. It's sophisticated editing (even today) and complex melding of different locations and storylines into a single whole greatly inspired the montage effects of the Soviet film theorists such as Pudovkin and Creator/SergeiEisenstein. It was inducted into the NationalFilmRegistry in 1994.

''A Corner in Wheat'' was a notable turning point in Griffith's artistic development and a harbinger for greater triumphs in years to come. It was inducted into the NationalFilmRegistry in 1994.

* {{Tableau}}: A unique use of this trope to establish mood. Twice--once when the poor people are lining up for bread, and once when the financier's body is discovered--the actors remain motionless while the camera rows. The poor people in the breadline are presented frozen at the beginning, while the actors in the latter scene freeze upon discovering the body. The first scene is presented in contrast with the rich people having a fancy dinner.

* {{Tableau}}: A unique use of this trope to establish mood. Twice--once when the poor people are lining up for bread, and once when the financier's body is discovered--the actors remain motionless while the camera rows. The poor people in the breadline are presented frozen at the beginning, while the actors in the latter scene freeze upon discovering the body.

** The unique use of a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tableau_vivant tableau vivant]] in two scenes by having the actors remain motionless while the camera rolls.

[[quoteright:305:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dw_griffith_7989.jpg]]

''A Corner in Wheat'' is a 1909 short film by cinema's first great director, [[Creator/DWGriffith D.W. Griffith]]. This 14-minute film (typical length for a feature of the day) depicts the results of a scheme by an unscrupulous financier to corner the wheat market. The financier makes an enormous fortune while inflicting misery on both the poor farmers who can't sell their wheat at market and the urban poor who can't afford to buy bread.

* TwoLinesNoWaiting: Despite being only 14 minutes long the film manages to tell three separate plot threads--the financier cornering the market, the farmer struggling to grow and sell his wheat crop, and the urban bakery where customers suddenly can't get bread.

!!This work provides examples of:

* AnAesop: Greed is bad.

''A Corner in Wheat'' is a 1909 short film by cinema's first great director, [[CreatorDWGriffith D.W. Griffith]]. This 14-minute film (typical length for a feature of the day) depicts the results of a scheme by an unscrupulous financier to corner the wheat market. The financier makes an enormous fortune while inflicting misery on both the poor farmers who can't sell their wheat at market and the urban poor who can't afford to buy bread.

''A Corner in Wheat'' is a 1909 short film by cinema's first great director, DWGriffith. This 14-minute film (typical length for a feature of the day) depicts the results of a scheme by an unscrupulous financier to corner the wheat market. The financier makes an enormous fortune while inflicting misery on both the poor farmers who can't sell their wheat at market and the urban poor who can't afford to buy bread.

* CameraTricks: The ending FadeOut. The shot of the farmer sowing wheat that maintains focus on him as he walks toward the camera, turns, and then walks away down the next row. The unique use of a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tableau_vivant tableau vivant]] in two scenes by having the actors remain motionless while the camera rolls.

''A Corner in Wheat'' was a notable turning point in Griffith's artistic development and a harbinger for greater triumphs in years to come. It was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1994.