{{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox film |name = An Unseen Enemy |image = An Unseen Enemy.jpg |alt = Black and white film still showing two young women in 1912 period dress |caption = Still with Lillian and Dorothy Gish |director = D. W. Griffith |producer = |writer = Edward Acker |starring = {{Plainlist| * Lillian Gish * Dorothy Gish * Harry Carey * Elmer Booth * Robert Harron }} |music = Robert Israel (new score) |cinematography = G. W. Bitzer |studio = Biograph Company |distributor = General Film Company |released = {{film date|1912|9|9}} |runtime = 15–16 minutes<br>(1 reel, full) |country = United States |language = Silent (English intertitles) |budget = }} thumb|thumbtime=4|upright=1.5|alt=Black and white silent film showing a suspenseful scene with two young women|{{center|Play film; runtime 00:15:17.}} '''''An Unseen Enemy''''' is a 1912 Biograph Company short silent film directed by D. W. Griffith, and was the first film to be made starring the actresses Lillian Gish and Dorothy Gish.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/U/UnseenEnemy1912.html |title = An Unseen Enemy at Silent Era |publisher = Silent Era |access-date = 2007-01-27}}</ref> A critic of the time stated that "the Gish sisters gave charming performances in this one-reel film".<ref>{{cite book | title=Still Moving: the Film and Media Collections of The Museum of Modern Art | year=2006 | chapter=The Biograph Collection| publisher=Museum of Modern Art | page=41 }}</ref> The film was shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey where early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based at the beginning of the 20th century.<ref>{{Citation |last=Koszarski |first=Richard| title=Fort Lee: The Film Town |place=Rome, Italy |publisher=John Libbey Publishing |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5w0r8YKan04C&q=Fort+Lee:+the+film+town+Door+Richard+Koszarski |isbn= 0-86196-653-8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Studios and Films |publisher=Fort Lee Film Commission |url=http://www.fortleefilm.org/studios.html | access-date=2011-05-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110425014840/http://www.fortleefilm.org/studios.html| archive-date=2011-04-25}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |work=Fort Lee Film Commission |title=Fort Lee Birthplace of the Motion Picture Industry |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ViR3b72xkK0C&q=Fort+Lee+Birthplace+of+the+Motion+Picture+Industry |isbn=0-7385-4501-5}}</ref> Consistent with practice at that time, the actors in the cast and their roles are not listed in the film.<ref name="Mayer">{{cite journal |last=Mayer |first=Ruth |title=Unique Doubles: Ornamental Sisters and Dual Roles in the Transitional Era Cinema |journal=Journal of Cinema and Media Studies |pages=13–19 |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2020 |url=https://www.academia.edu/40429287 |url-access=registration |issn=0009-7101 |access-date=2020-03-24}}</ref> (The car chase near the end was not filmed in Fort Lee. It began in Little Silver, NJ and ended in Oceanport, NJ, the movable Goose Neck Bridge connecting the two).
== Plot == A physician's death orphans his two adolescent daughters. Their older brother is able to convert some of the doctor's small estate to cash. It is late in the day, and with the banks closed he stores the money in his father's household safe. The slatternly housekeeper, aware of the money, enlists a criminal acquaintance to help crack the safe. They lock the daughters in an adjacent room, and the drunken housekeeper menaces them by brandishing a gun through a hole in the wall. The resourceful girls use the telephone to call their brother who has returned to town. He gets the message and organizes a rescue party.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://imdb.com/title/tt0002553/plotsummary |title=Plot Summary for An Unseen Enemy |publisher=Internet Movie Database |access-date=2007-01-27}}</ref>
== Cast == {{Cast listing| * Elmer Booth * Lillian Gish * Dorothy Gish * Harry Carey Sr. * Robert Harron * Grace Henderson as The Unseen Enemy * Charles Hill Mailes * Walter Miller * Henry B. Walthall * Adolph Lestina * Antonio Moreno as Man On Bridge, Flagging Car * Erich von Stroheim as Man In Straw Hat Dancing At Lobby Desk }}
== Commentary == To emphasize their sisterhood, Lillian and Dorothy Gish had identical clothes and hairstyles, and made similar gestures.<ref name="Mayer"/> The other two films where the Gishes played sisters are ''The Lady and the Mouse'' (1913) and ''Orphans of the Storm'' (1922).
== See also == * Harry Carey filmography * D. W. Griffith filmography * Lillian Gish filmography
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category|An Unseen Enemy}} * {{IMDb title|0002553}} * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVSFlSxNvLg ''An Unseen Enemy''] on YouTube * ''An Unseen Enemy'' available for free download from [https://archive.org/details/TheUnseenEnemy Archive.org]
{{D. W. Griffith|state=collapsed}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Unseen Enemy, The}} Category:1912 films Category:1912 short films Category:1912 American films Category:1912 English-language films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American silent short films Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Biograph Company films Category:English-language short films Category:Films about orphans Category:Films shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey Category:General Film Company Category:Short films directed by D. W. Griffith Category:Surviving American silent films