Editing Tod Browning (section)

==Early film directing and screenwriting: 1914–1916==
Film historian Vivian Sobchack noted that "a number of one- or two-reelers are attributed to Browning from 1914 to 1916" and biographer Michael Barson credits Browning's directorial debut to the one-reeler drama ''[[The Lucky Transfer]]'', released in March 1915.<ref>Sobchack, 2006 pp. 22, 37: "Internet Movies DataBase lists 15 films that Browning supposedly directed between 1914 and 1916..."<br />Barson, 2021: "In 1915 he made his directorial debut with the one-reel silent ''The Lucky Transfer''."<br />Alford, 1995: "In 1913 Tod Browning became an actor in the movies, appearing in a rash of Biograph one-reelers ...Within two years he was directing for the Majestic Motion Picture Corporation."<br />Towlson, 2012: "Browning began his career as a director in 1917, after working as an actor for D. W. Griffith."</ref>

Browning's career almost ended when, intoxicated, he drove his vehicle into a railroad crossing and collided with a locomotive. Browning suffered grievous injuries, as did passenger [[George Siegmann]]. A second passenger, actor [[Elmer Booth]], was killed instantly.<ref>Towlson, 2017 Part 2: "...a car crash in 1915 which resulted in the death of a passenger, Elmer Booth. Browning was driving under the influence when his car hit a train at a railway crossing. Browning himself suffered serious injuries: a shattered right leg, unspecified internal injuries and likely the loss of his front teeth."</ref><ref>Barson, 2021: "In June of that year [1915], while driving drunk, he collided at high speed with a moving train. Browning and actor George A. Siegmann were seriously injured; actor Elmer Booth was killed.</ref> Film historian Jon Towlson notes that "alcoholism was to contribute to a major trauma in Browning's personal life that would shape his thematic obsessions...After 1915, Browning began to direct his traumatic experience into his work – radically reshaping it in the process."<ref>Towlson, 2017 Part 2</ref> According to biographers [[David J. Skal]] and [[Elias Savada]], the tragic event transformed Browning's creative outlook:

{{blockquote|A distinct pattern had appeared in his post-accident body of work, distinguishing it from the comedy that had been his specialty before 1915. Now his focus was moralistic melodrama, with recurrent themes of crime, culpability and retribution.<ref>Skal and Savada, 1995 p. 55</ref>}}

Indeed, the thirty-one films that Browning wrote and directed between 1920 and 1939 were, with few exceptions, melodramas.<ref>Sobchack, 2006 p. 22: Exceptions comprise "two serious dramas, two romantic films and one horror film. All others are melodramas of various types."</ref>

Browning's injuries likely precluded a further career as an actor.<ref>Brogan, year: "A car accident in 1915 ended his acting career, and he concentrated on writing during his convalescence."<br />Towlson, 2017 Part 2: "...Hollywood insiders of the time, such as director [[George Marshall (director)|George E. Marshall]], have asserted that Browning's injuries to some extent limited his physical activities as an adult. Whatever the true nature and extent of his injuries, the trauma that Browning experienced was genuine and profound."</ref> During his protracted convalescence,<ref>Towlson, 2017: "Browning suffered...a shattered right leg, unspecified internal injuries and likely the loss of his front teeth."</ref> Browning turned to writing screenplays for Reliance-Majestic.<ref>Sobchack, 2006 p. 35: "Browning, in is early career, worked in the story department of Majestic Pictures..."<br />Barson, 2021: "During Browning's long convalescence, he turned to screenwriting..."</ref> Upon his recovery, Browning joined Griffith's film crew on the set of ''[[Intolerance (film)|Intolerance]]'' (1916) as an assistant director and appeared in a bit part for the production's "modern story" sequence.<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 8<br />Barson, 2021: "After his recovery, he had a small role in Griffith's ''[[Intolerance (film)|Intolerance]]'' (1916) while also functioning as an assistant director on it."</ref><ref>Robinson, 1968 p. 125: Browning "...was one of the master's (Griffith's) assistant on ''[[Intolerance (film)|Intolerance]]'' (1916)..."</ref>