Based on the famous O. Henry short story Alias Jimmy Valentine takes every familiar element of crime drama-robbery safe-cracking, prison hidden identities, gang solidarity and moral reformation-and handles them with suspense and wit. The film concerns a one time bank robber who is forced to reveal his identity in order to rescue a small child trapped in a bank vault. Director Maurice Tourneurs (1876-1961) Alias Jimmy Valentine was released in New York in February 1915 a week before D W Griffith's Birth of A Nation. The film represents a stylistic pole opposite to Griffith s rapid cutting and relatively shallow staging. Tourneur extends the grammar of cinema claiming his own unique style and a mastery of space (note the extra ordinary overhead shots of the bank robbery) unrivalled in early film.