Editing D. W. Griffith (section)

== Later film career ==
Although United Artists survived as a company, Griffith's association with it was short-lived. While some of his later films did well at the box office, commercial success often eluded him. Griffith features from this period include ''[[Broken Blossoms]]'' (1919), ''[[Way Down East]]'' (1920), ''[[Orphans of the Storm]]'' (1921), ''[[Dream Street (film)|Dream Street]]'' (1921), ''[[One Exciting Night (1922 film)|One Exciting Night]]'' (1922), ''[[The White Rose (1923 film)|The White Rose]]'' (1923), ''[[America (1924 film)|America]]'' (1924) and ''[[Isn't Life Wonderful]]'' (1924). Of these, the first three were successes at the box office.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Last Dissolve|date=August 2, 1948|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,888442,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204230733/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,888442,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 4, 2008|access-date=August 14, 2008}}</ref> Griffith was forced to leave United Artists after ''Isn't Life Wonderful'' (1924) failed at the box office.

[[File:United Artists contract signature 1919 alt.jpg | thumb|left|upright=1.2|United Artists founders Griffith, Pickford, Chaplin and Fairbanks sign their contract for the cameras in 1919.]]

He made ''[[Lady of the Pavements]]'' (1929), a part sound film, and only two full-sound films: ''[[Abraham Lincoln (1930 film)|Abraham Lincoln]]'' (1930) and ''[[The Struggle (1931 film)|The Struggle]]'' (1931). Neither was successful, and after ''The Struggle'', he never made another film.

In 1936, director [[Woody Van Dyke]], who had worked as Griffith's apprentice on ''Intolerance'', asked Griffith to help him shoot the famous earthquake sequence for ''[[San Francisco (1936 film)|San Francisco]]'', but Griffith was not given any film credit. Starring [[Clark Gable]], [[Jeanette MacDonald]] and [[Spencer Tracy]], it was the top-grossing film of the year.<ref>{{cite web|title=Biggest Box Office Hits of 1936|url=http://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/biggest-box-office-hits-of-1936/|website=Ultimate movie rankings|date=August 28, 2017|access-date=14 November 2017}}</ref>

In 1939, the producer [[Hal Roach]] hired Griffith to produce ''[[Of Mice and Men (1939 film)|Of Mice and Men]]'' (1939) and ''[[One Million B.C.]]'' (1940). He wrote to Griffith: "I need help from the production side to select the proper writers, cast, et cetera, and to help me generally in the supervision of these pictures."<ref>Richard Lewis Ward, ''A History of the Hal Roach Studios'', pp. 109–110. Southern Illinois University, 2005. {{ISBN|0-8093-2637-X}}. In his tie at Biograph, Griffith had directed two films with prehistoric settings: ''Man's Genesis'' (1912) and ''[[Brute Force (1914 film)|Brute Force]]'' (1914).</ref>

Although Griffith eventually disagreed with Roach over the production and departed, Roach later insisted that some of the scenes in the completed film were directed by Griffith. This movie was the final production in which Griffith was involved. However, cast members' accounts recall Griffith directing only the screen tests and costume tests. When Roach advertised the film in late 1939 with Griffith listed as producer, Griffith asked that his name be removed.<ref>Ward, p. 110.</ref>

Griffith was for decades held in awe by many members of the film industry. He was presented with an honorary [[Academy Award|Oscar]] by the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] in 1936.<ref>{{cite book|title=501 Movie Directors|editor-first=Steven Jay|editor-last=Schneider|publisher=Cassell Illustrated|location=London|year=2007|pages=16–18|isbn=9781844035731|oclc=1347156402}}</ref> In 1946, he made an impromptu visit to the film location of [[David O. Selznick]]'s epic western ''[[Duel in the Sun (film)|Duel in the Sun]]'', where some of his veteran actors—[[Lillian Gish]], [[Lionel Barrymore]] and [[Harry Carey (actor)|Harry Carey]]—were cast members. Gish and Barrymore found their mentor's presence distracting, and they became self-conscious; in response, Griffith hid behind the scenery when the two were filming their scenes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Green |first=Paul |title=Jennifer Jones: The Life and Films |publisher=McFarland & Company |date=2011 |page=69 |isbn=978-0-7864-8583-3}}</ref>