{{Short description|1909 film directed by D. W. Griffith}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = A Corner in Wheat | image = A Corner in Wheat.jpg | alt = Film still of a man lying on the floor while several people try to attend to him | caption = The dead wheat king at the grain elevator | director = D. W. Griffith | producer = | writer = Frank Norris (book) | starring = {{Plainlist| * Frank Powell * Grace Henderson * James Kirkwood * Linda Arvidson * W. C. Miller * Gladys Egan * H. B. Walthall * Blanche Sweet }} | music = | cinematography = G. W. Bitzer | editing = | studio = | distributor = American Mutoscope and Biograph Company | released = {{film date|1909|12|13}} | runtime = approx. 15 minutes | country = United States | language = Silent (English intertitles) | budget = | gross = }}
'''''A Corner in Wheat'''''<ref>{{cite video |title=A Corner in Wheat |date=1909 |publisher=Biograph |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2012600307/}}</ref> is a 1909 American short silent film which tells of a greedy tycoon who tries to corner 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".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/dwgriffithyearsa0000unse_p5u3/page/88/mode/2up |title=D. W. Griffith: The Years at Biograph |first=Robert M. |last=Henderson |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |location=New York |year=1970 |page=89}}</ref><ref name=MOMA>{{cite web |url=https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2012/03/15/a-corner-in-wheat/ |title=A Corner in Wheat |first=Anna |last=Morra |date=March 15, 2012 |publisher=Museum of Modern Art |accessdate=June 17, 2025}}</ref> 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.<ref name=MOMA/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NLLRjRVY7NcC&dq=%22james+A.+Patten%22&pg=PA53 |title=Brokers, Bagmen, and Moles: Fraud and Corruption in the Chicago Futures Markets |first1=David |last1=Greising |first2=Laurie |last2=Morse |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |date=July 1, 1991 |pages=53–54 |isbn=9780471530572 |accessdate=June 17, 2025}}</ref>
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".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/15/movies/25-films-added-to-national-registry.html |title=25 Films Added to National Registry |date=November 15, 1994 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 24, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/ |website=Library of Congress |access-date=June 3, 2020}}</ref> <!-- The film was also released on 8mm in the 1960s. !-->
==Plot== 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== thumb|A Corner in Wheat (1909){{Cast listing| * Frank Powell as The wheat king * James Kirkwood as The poor farmer * Linda Arvidson as The poor farmer's wife * Gladys Egan as The poor farmer's daughter * Henry B. Walthall as The wheat king's assistant * Grace Henderson as The wheat king's wife * W. Chrystie Miller as The poor farmer's father }}
==Release== 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).<ref>{{cite book |last=Eagan |first=Daniel |title=America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry |publisher=Continuum |year=2010 |pages=20 |isbn=978-1-4411-1647-5}}</ref>
==Analysis and impact== 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.<ref name=Ulman>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2001/feature-articles/cornerwheat/ |title=A Corner in Wheat: An Analysis |first=Erik |last=Ulman |date=June 2021 |magazine=Senses of Cinema |issue=14 |accessdate=June 17, 2025}}</ref> Vlada Petrić states that this "anticipates Eisenstein's intellectual montage."<ref name=Ulman/>
==See also== * D. W. Griffith filmography * Blanche Sweet filmography
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline}} * {{wikisource-inline|A Corner in Wheat|''A Corner in Wheat''|single=true}} * [https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/corner_in_wheat.pdf ''A Corner in Wheat'' essay by Daniel Eagan] at the National Film Registry * [https://www.loc.gov/item/2012600307/ ''A Corner in Wheat''] at the Library of Congress * {{IMDb title|id=0000832|title=A Corner in Wheat}} * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THsc4HPxnAs ''A Corner in Wheat''] on YouTube
{{D. W. Griffith}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corner In Wheat, A}} Category:1909 films Category:1909 drama films Category:1909 short films Category:1909 American films Category:1909 English-language films Category:American black-and-white films Category:Films based on American novels Category:Films based on works by Frank Norris Category:Short films directed by D. W. Griffith Category:Biograph Company films Category:United States National Film Registry films Category:American silent drama short films Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Films with screenplays by Frank E. Woods Category:Surviving American silent films Category:Wheat in culture Category:English-language drama short films