Truly Dreadful Film

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This subject is so much out of the line of the work generally handled by the Biograph Company that they would have been excused if it had not come up to their usual standard. The fact is that it surpasses any of their studio productions in photography and realism, while the plot is so well drawn and the various scenes so skillfully staged and handled that it brings the warmest applause from the spectators. The man behind the camera who made the pictures representing the spirited horsemanship and the battle scene deserves to be congratulated on the success of his work. "The Guerilla" is a film that will draw the crowds. -- The Moving Picture World, November 21, 1908

Through the close-ups in this film we gain access to the inner life of the characters. The movement of the camera is like brush strokes of a paintbrush, painting a masterpiece of moving imagery. This installment was part of the 2 features, 1 comedy film per week that Griffith had to churn out.