Edgar Allen Poe (1909)

Short, seven-minute film on the life of Poe (Herbert Yost) sees the author suffering as the woman he loves his slowly dying. Poe goes out to try and sale his stories but ends up getting rejected. You'll notice that the writers name is misspelled in the title and according to the notes on the DVD, historians believed this was the fault of Biograph who rushed this out to capture crowds on the celebration of Poe's centenary birthday. As for the film, it's pretty good as long as you know what not to expect. Those expecting a full bio will be disappointed but Griffith handles the seven-minutes pretty well and delivers a quick and by the numbers picture. Yost does a very good job as Poe and what's shocking is how much they look alike.