In 1995 I saw a screening of The Wind as part of a TV celebration of 100 years of cinema and it was a great experience. Since then, I've only managed to see clips. However, I just recently got a copy of this film with the Carl Davis score and viewing it again was wonderful. Of course, I remembered some of the great scenes such as the face in the sand, but this is a film that gains enormously on repeated viewings and I got a great deal more out of it this time around. What follows represents my own impressions of this marvellous film. It is personal and not meant to be exhaustiveindeed the film is worth a book! The elemental setting of the desert with its perpetual wind acts as a stage for the struggles, external and internal, which the characters must undergo. They have their own interior winds of passion which they are only barely able to control, just as they physically live on the edge of survival in the external world. Cora {Dorothy Cumming} wields a knife menacingly in the presence of Letty (memorably, magnificently played by Lilian Gish} and even screams in a fury "I'd like to kill you". But Cora is not evil. She deeply loves her children and her husband and can't bear the presence of someone she considers a rival. Love is terribly valuable in this desolate world and is defended with terrible tenacity.
Lige {Lars Hanson} tries to win the love of his new wife, Letty, in his bumbling but honest way. At one moment he tries to force himself on her. Her rejection of him allows us to see a supreme moment of Gish's command of powerful emotional facial expressions which convey fear, disgust, hurt, horror, and anguish. It is moments like this which convince me that Lilian is the greatest silent actress of all. Again, Lige is not a bad person. What he wanted and needed was a helpmate, someone to share his trials and struggles with a shared love. She can't give him that. Hence, he tells Letty he'll not touch her again and will work to send her back home.
The great finale is one of the most magnificent moments in cinematic history. Letty must finally face her repressed sexual feelings for Wirt Roddy {Montagu Lovein another wonderful performance in a film filled with them} All the psychological tension is conveyed by the power of the irresistible wind. The surreal swaying of the objects is mirrored by the swaying of Letty's body as her mind approaches disintegration. We feel that "the centre cannot hold". The Mythically powerful image of the great horse galloping in the midst of the wind is something never to be forgotten and touches us so deeply, so profoundly, that it terrifies us as much as Letty. Here are forces deeper than the civilised paraphernalia of the world around us. Here is something at the root of the soul.
The symbolism of the wind and the great mythic horse is multi-layered and I think that many would enjoy exploring this area. There are some really excellent comments elsewhere on this board which are certainly worth examination and which will provide some good sign posts for that journey.
For myself? I found the film wonderful and I just cannot help being excited about how wonderful it is!
Lige {Lars Hanson} tries to win the love of his new wife, Letty, in his bumbling but honest way. At one moment he tries to force himself on her. Her rejection of him allows us to see a supreme moment of Gish's command of powerful emotional facial expressions which convey fear, disgust, hurt, horror, and anguish. It is moments like this which convince me that Lilian is the greatest silent actress of all. Again, Lige is not a bad person. What he wanted and needed was a helpmate, someone to share his trials and struggles with a shared love. She can't give him that. Hence, he tells Letty he'll not touch her again and will work to send her back home.
The great finale is one of the most magnificent moments in cinematic history. Letty must finally face her repressed sexual feelings for Wirt Roddy {Montagu Lovein another wonderful performance in a film filled with them} All the psychological tension is conveyed by the power of the irresistible wind. The surreal swaying of the objects is mirrored by the swaying of Letty's body as her mind approaches disintegration. We feel that "the centre cannot hold". The Mythically powerful image of the great horse galloping in the midst of the wind is something never to be forgotten and touches us so deeply, so profoundly, that it terrifies us as much as Letty. Here are forces deeper than the civilised paraphernalia of the world around us. Here is something at the root of the soul.
The symbolism of the wind and the great mythic horse is multi-layered and I think that many would enjoy exploring this area. There are some really excellent comments elsewhere on this board which are certainly worth examination and which will provide some good sign posts for that journey.
For myself? I found the film wonderful and I just cannot help being excited about how wonderful it is!