An excess of old-fashioned hokum prevents THE WHITE SISTER from being taken as a serious melodrama when seen today. Henry King's direction is so rambling that the film goes on for more than two hours during which time every conceivable melodramatic cliché is turned on its head.
LILLIAN GISH spends most of her time gazing reverently either at thirty-one-year-old RONALD COLMAN (as an Italian soldier Giovanni, in his first film) or heavenward toward the God she has married when she thinks that her soldier lover is dead, killed in Africa. Meanwhile, she has lost all her property when her cruel half-sister destroys their father's will, thus inheriting his entire estate and leaving her penniless to fend on her own.
And just when you think Gish has suffered enough, along comes Colman back from the dead, imploring her to cast away her vows so they can be reunited as lovers. The saintly Gish spends most of her scenes with Colman gazing toward a heavenly ceiling with tears in her eyes, unable to return his earthly passion. "God is love," she tells him.
The human suffering increases once the story reaches its climax, with Mt. Vesuvius erupting on a sleeping village, saved from hot lava by Colman who wakens the townspeople in time but who ends up swallowed by rising waters. Gish is left to contemplate her lost love, hoping to be reunited when her time comes.
It's a thoroughly old-fashioned story only partially redeemed by good camera work, a good score (on the TCM print), and Ronald Colman's earnest performance as the young man deeply in love.
Recommended only for fans of silent films who will undoubtedly enjoy all 145 minutes of the original version. Modern viewers will find it all terribly dated and overwrought.
LILLIAN GISH spends most of her time gazing reverently either at thirty-one-year-old RONALD COLMAN (as an Italian soldier Giovanni, in his first film) or heavenward toward the God she has married when she thinks that her soldier lover is dead, killed in Africa. Meanwhile, she has lost all her property when her cruel half-sister destroys their father's will, thus inheriting his entire estate and leaving her penniless to fend on her own.
And just when you think Gish has suffered enough, along comes Colman back from the dead, imploring her to cast away her vows so they can be reunited as lovers. The saintly Gish spends most of her scenes with Colman gazing toward a heavenly ceiling with tears in her eyes, unable to return his earthly passion. "God is love," she tells him.
The human suffering increases once the story reaches its climax, with Mt. Vesuvius erupting on a sleeping village, saved from hot lava by Colman who wakens the townspeople in time but who ends up swallowed by rising waters. Gish is left to contemplate her lost love, hoping to be reunited when her time comes.
It's a thoroughly old-fashioned story only partially redeemed by good camera work, a good score (on the TCM print), and Ronald Colman's earnest performance as the young man deeply in love.
Recommended only for fans of silent films who will undoubtedly enjoy all 145 minutes of the original version. Modern viewers will find it all terribly dated and overwrought.