The Essential Lillian Gish Canon
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- DirectorCharles LaughtonStarsRobert MitchumShelley WintersLillian GishA self-proclaimed preacher marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real dad hid the $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishMae MarshHenry B. WalthallThe Stoneman family finds its friendship with the Camerons affected by the Civil War, both fighting in opposite armies. The development of the war in their lives plays through to Lincoln's assassination and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRobert HarronMae MarshThe story of a poor young woman separated by prejudice from her husband and baby is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRichard BarthelmessDonald CrispA frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.
- DirectorKing VidorOtto BrowerWilliam DieterleStarsJennifer JonesJoseph CottenGregory PeckBeautiful, biracial Pearl Chavez becomes the ward of her dead father's first love and finds herself torn between two brothers, one good and the other bad.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsBurt LancasterAudrey HepburnAudie MurphyThe neighbors of a frontier family turn on them when it is suspected that their adopted daughter was stolen from the local Kiowa tribe.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsJennifer JonesJoseph CottenEthel BarrymoreIn Depression-era New York, an impoverished painter has a chance encounter with an enigmatic, old-fashioned little girl in Central Park who inspires him and changes his destiny.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsLillian GishLars HansonMontagu LoveA frail young woman from the East moves in with her cousin in the West, where she causes tension within the family and is slowly driven mad.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRichard BarthelmessMrs. David LandauA naive country girl is tricked into a sham marriage by a wealthy womanizer, then must rebuild her life despite the taint of having borne a child out of wedlock.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishDorothy GishJoseph SchildkrautTwo orphaned sisters are caught up in the turmoil of the French Revolution, encountering misery and love along the way.
- DirectorLindsay AndersonStarsBette DavisLillian GishVincent PriceTwo aged sisters reflect on life and the past during a late summer day in Maine.
- DirectorAlan AldaStarsAlan AldaMichael CaineMichelle PfeifferAfter selling the rights of his book to a movie production company, a writer finds himself fighting the many egos and varying views around him.
- DirectorNorman TokarStarsFred MacMurrayVera MilesLillian GishA man settles down in a small town and becomes the scoutmaster.
- DirectorPeter GlenvilleStarsRichard BurtonElizabeth TaylorAlec GuinnessA cynical Welsh hotel owner secretly romances a diplomat's wife in Haiti, under the violent reign of the despot "Papa Doc" Duvalier.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsElmer BoothLillian GishClara T. BracyA tender young woman and her musician husband attempt to eke out a living in the slums of New York City, but find themselves caught in the crossfires of gang violence.
- DirectorKing VidorStarsLillian GishJohn GilbertRenée AdoréeA group of starving artists try to survive in 1830s Paris, including a seamstress and the would-be playwright she loves.
- DirectorVictor SjöströmStarsLillian GishLars HansonHenry B. WalthallAfter having a child out of wedlock, a young Puritan woman is pressured to reveal the name of her lover.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRobert HarronWilbur HigbySusie, a plain young country girl, secretly loves a neighbor boy, William. She believes in him and sacrifices much of her own happiness to promote his own ambitions, all without his knowledge. Eventually he rises to a position of success and sophistication, and Susie realizes that she has through her own efforts raised him to a level where he is inaccessible to her.
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsRichard WidmarkLauren BacallCharles BoyerAt a private psychiatric clinic, the daily dramas and interactions between the doctors, nurses, administrators, benefactors and patients are accentuated by the personal and family crises of these individuals.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsBlanche SweetHenry B. WalthallMae MarshA religious woman seeks to save her people from destruction by seducing and murdering the enemy leader, but her plans get complicated once she falls for him.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishDorothy GishRobert HarronYoung lovers in a French village are torn apart with the coming of the Great War.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRobert HarronRalph GravesAn orphan girl is given shelter by a farm family, but soon finds herself in the clutches of a murderous farmer and his wife.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsWalter MillerLillian GishKate BruceA young couple struggle to get ahead, the wife always assuaging the troubles of her melancholy husband. As he climbs the ladder of success, he abandons the homely values and takes up with another woman. His wife leaves him, returning to her mother's home where she bears a child. When the husband is abandoned by his concubine, remorse drives him to find his wife...
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsMae MarshLeslie LoveridgeAlfred PagetThe fact that an Indian tribe is eating puppies starts an action-packed battle in a Western town.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishDorothy GishElmer BoothA brother and his two younger sisters inherit a modest amount from their father. When the brother is away, their shady housekeeper decides to take it for herself.
- DirectorJohn FarrowStarsPaul MuniAnna LeeLillian GishA gentle widower, enraged at German atrocities against his peaceful Norwegian fishing village, escapes to Britain and returns leading a commando force against the oppressors.
- DirectorBuzz KulikStarsDavid JanssenEd BegleyKeenan WynnDuring a stakeout, an L.A. cop kills a doctor who presumably pulled a gun but the coroner's inquest finds no gun, forcing the cop to look for it to clear his name.
- DirectorPaul L. SteinStarsLillian GishRod La RocqueConrad NagelA scheming mother wishes to make a successful match between her daughter and a prince, yet another man, a commoner, may stand in the way.
- DirectorJohn S. RobertsonStarsLillian GishNorman KerryCreighton HaleThe story of the famous battle between the Scots clans of Macdonald and Campbell, and the young woman who comes between them, Annie Laurie.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsLillian GishRonald ColmanGail KaneA young woman becomes a nun when she believes her sweetheart has been killed, then things get complicated when he returns alive.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRobert HarronGeorge FawcettJohn Logan leaves his parents and sweetheart in bucolic Happy Valley to make his fortune in the city. Those he left behind become miserable and beleaguered in his absence, but after several years he returns, a wealthy man.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithStarsEddie AlbertPaul MassieLillian GishAmerican agent faces an engrossing moral dilemma when he is parachuted into France to eliminate a suspected traitor in the French Resistance.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLionel BarrymoreClaire McDowellCharles Hill MailesA potentially violent patient in an insane asylum is calmed when he hears a nurse playing the piano. But shortly afterwards he breaks free, eludes his pursuers, and acquires a gun. He soon comes to a house where a young wife is home alone, and there is a tense confrontation.
- DirectorArthur HopkinsStarsRoland YoungLillian GishMontagu LovePriam Farrel is a celebrated artist but a social recluse. When his valet dies of a sudden illness, a mix-up leads to the body being identified as Farrel's. The timid artist then assumes the identity of his former servant, but finds himself faced with constant dilemmas as a result.
- DirectorRoy WattsStarsLillian GishCandy ClarkO.J. SimpsonA dog (Hambone) treks from New York City to Los Angeles to be reunited with his owner (Hillie), meeting a host of helpers along the way.
- DirectorGilbert CatesStarsRichard ThomasSharon GlessJack WardenDaughter of the owner of a shoe store rebels against her father by marrying one of his employees.
- DirectorRobert ScheererStarsHelen HayesBob CraneLillian GishA drama critic learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are homicidal maniacs, and that insanity runs in his family.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsLillian GishDorothy GishWilliam PowellIn Renaissance Florence, Tito, a no-good young man pretending to be a scholar, wins the admiration of a blind man who has long looked for someone to finish his scholarly work. He has a beautiful daughter named Romola. Tito flirts with a peasant girl in the streets, and for fun goes through a mock marriage with her -- but she takes it seriously. Romola doesn't really love him, but marries him because her father wishes it. When the Medici are forced out, Tito joins the new government and rises to be chief magistrate. His evil actions earn him the hatred of Romola and of the people, and he is killed by his stepfather. Romola ends up with sculptor Carlo, who has always loved her.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsHenry B. WalthallJosephine CrowellLillian GishJohn Howard Payne at his most miserable point in life, writes a song which becomes popular and inspires other people at some point in their lives.
- DirectorChristy CabanneStarsLillian GishFrank BennettWalter LongA poor Russian girl's beauty leads her unscrupulous uncle to bring her to the United States. There he is going to sell her into a marriage with a rich old man she has never met. But her lover, an returning immigrant visiting Russia from the U.S., sails on the same ship. When they arrive he learns, to his surprise, that the American police, unlike those of his native country, are not oppressors of the poor, but friends that will aid in securing the release of his beloved Maria.
- DirectorChristy CabanneStarsAlfred PagetLillian GishWallace ReidSeamen Enoch Arden returns home after a long absence marooned on a desert island. At home he finds his wife married to another, and though he loves her, he cannot bear to disrupt her current happiness.
- DirectorCharles LamontStarsDonald O'ConnorSusanna FosterLillian GishMusical in which a family puts on a show to boost the morale of the local factory workers.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsDonald CrispLillian GishRobert HarronFrank Andrews is a successful businessman. He has always found pride and joy in the company of his wife, son and daughter. He suddenly finds himself enthralled by the advances of a gay young woman siren, who lives in the same apartment house as he does. So marked an influence does she have over him as time progresses that at last he quite forgets his home ties, neglects his family, and goes the way of many other men who have forgotten the meaning of paternity and blood ties. The story is advanced through many scenes enacted with the accompanying notes of New York's night life, and the denouement comes when the faithful wife discovers her husband's infidelity. At this time the mother's mind nearly loses balance, while Jane, the beautiful daughter, crazed by the grief of her mother, determines to take part in the tragedy. With revolver in hand she steals up to the apartment of the woman, but her frail nature is overcome by the temperamental anger of the woman and her mission fails. However, the errand is not fraught with failure for the father, coming in at this moment, finds his daughter being made love to by the sweetheart of the young woman, and realizes the road upon which he has traveled. When he confronts his daughter and says, "You, my daughter, what are you doing here?" The daughter answers, "My father, what are you doing here?" The realization is brought home to the father's mind that the law of moral ethics that governs a woman's life necessarily governs that of wan as well. Reformation comes in his character. He takes his daughter away with him and together they go back to their home of happiness and content.
- DirectorFred NibloStarsLillian GishRalph ForbesRalph EmersonCarl Behrend, son of a wealthy businessman, marries Pauli Arndt, daughter of a pacifist professor. When World War I breaks out, Carl is drafted. Pauli and her family and friends are left behind to experience the suffering which befell civilians during the war. Her luck worsens when her father is dismissed from his professorship for teaching that war is evil. Her father argues violently with Carl's father, and degradation and despair descend on Pauli and her family as they await Carl's return from the front.
- DirectorVincent J. DonehueStarsLillian GishEileen HeckartDennis CrossA woman has to live with a daughter in law who hates her and a son who does not dare take her side. While the unhappy family lives in a Houston apartment, Carrie Watts dreams of returning to Bountiful, where she was raised.
- DirectorBoris SagalStarsElizabeth MontgomeryLillian GishGig YoungBased on the screenplay by Mel Dinelli, this story revolves around Helen Warren, a beautiful mute girl, who becomes the target of a mysterious killer who preys on young handicapped women.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishRobert HarronAdolph LestinaJeannette Peret, daughter of a cigar-store owner, leaves her Greenwich Village home for France in hopes of finding there the love which eludes her at home. She becomes enamored of le Bebe, a giant of a vegetable peddler, but his unsophisticated ways disillusion her. Edward Livingston, a wealthy young man from home who had spurned Jeannette, now turns up and realizes the error of his ways. But he, too, has a great flaw, and only the outbreak of war , ironically, is able to lead Jeannette to a peaceful conclusion to her quest.
- DirectorD.W. GriffithStarsLillian GishDorothy GishLionel BarrymoreThe question is, would the young tramp really have fallen in love with the groceryman's daughter if he had not caught her in the heart struggle. Be that as it may, she could not find it in her to drown the unwelcome visitor to the pantry, so she let it go and the silent little drama witnessed by the tramp greatly impressed him. Not so the strict aunt, she declared the whole thing to be in exact accordance with everything else in the family. Their hearts ran away with their heads. That was why they lost money on credit, could not pay off the mortgage and send the sick sister to a better climate. As for the tramp, they had no business to take him in. He could not pay for his keep. But the tramp surprised them all.
- DirectorJohn BerryStarsVeronica LakeSonny TuftsJoan CaulfieldA student nurse falls in love with a young intern in 1910 Baltimore, but tragedy ensues when he contracts a fatal disease.