The Sorrows of Satan (1926) 

My first experience seeing a Griffith film in a theater was not entirely a success. The film was shown with no musical accompaniment, started late, and the film itself caught fire three times. I got the impression during the film that Griffith might be the most moral of all filmmakers. There is always a side and agenda coming through, which makes Intolerance all the more interesting because there he's moralizing moralizers. Now no Griffith film would be complete without a lengthy and wordy prologue, and here we see Satan being cast out of heaven and told that he'll have an hour at the gates of paradise for every soul that resists him. So now we have our story. Two young would be writers live across from each other in a low rent boarding house. They obviously love one another but have little to show for their literary aspirations. One night they have rolls and coffee (all they can afford) and the man suddenly gets aggressive, trying his hardest to be invited back into the girl's room. She confesses his love and next thing you know they've slept with each other, quite scandalous for 1926. The next day they plan on getting married, get the license and everything seems great, even the girl sold one of her stories. The man goes to pick up a check for reviewing other people's books when he's told that his services are no longer necessary. Believing money is the only thing that matters he offers to sell his soul to any devil that'll buy. It got a laugh out of the audience when Adolphe Menjou suddenly appears telling him about a rich old uncle that just died. So he wines and dines him and introduces him to a cardboard cutout vamp named Princess Olga. Suddenly he must think of his position and leaves the girl behind and of course the age old "be careful what you wish for" nonsense pops up and tragedy has to strike before redemption. The films most impressive sequence comes when a car takes away the man and the woman tries yelling at him in a great montage that shows Griffith could compete with the Russians he helped inspire. The film is typical heavy handed griffith.