User Reviews

ORPHANS OF THE STORM is quite an impressive looking silent film from D.W. Griffith, who was obviously the Cecil B. DeMille of his day. He has an instinct for showing surging crowd scenes involving all the unrest during the French Revolution and these scenes are highly detailed and very arresting visually. All the sets and costumes look as though a lavish budget was spent on this story of two sisters who survive the French Revolution after many melodramatic twists and turns of their fortune.

DOROTHY GISH and LILLIAN GISH are the sisters, with Dorothy as the blind waif who is separated from her sister when an overly amorous nobleman orders Lillian to be brought to his orgy. From there on, the Dickensian plot becomes thicker and thicker as the girls suffer one indignity after another in order to survive.

LUCILLE LaVERNE is the old hag (she later was the model for Disney's Wicked Witch in "Snow White"), a harridan who makes Dorothy a beggar in the streets. "You'll shiver better without a shawl," is one of her immortal lines.

Joseph SCHILDKRAUT is very impressive in an early American screen role, demonstrating charm and skill of the kind that would land him important parts in future costume films like "Marie Antoinette." MONTE BLUE is Danton, a man who meets LILLIAN GISH early in the story and later becomes the defender who saves her and Schildkraut from the guillotine.

It's all very melodramatic, the acting ranging from overdone to wildly overdone. Griffith was never subtle in asking his performers to give it their all. Excessive wringing of hands, eye-rolling to show anguish, fierce looks to show hatred, etc. may cause unintended chuckles when viewed by today's audiences, but there is never any letdown in the telling of a compelling story using the French Revolution as rich background material for a tale of villainy and heroism.

A fascinating silent film with an appropriate film score added to give the story even more force and flavor.

Summing up: Overlong drama, but compelling from the start to the feverishly melodramatic end.

Exquisite close-ups of Lillian Gish are touching and lend poignant charm to her performance.

First of all, I find it desperately necessary to remind the viewer of silent movies of the danger of analyzing these pieces under the lens of the modern cinemagoer. The aesthetic values of silent cinema are incommensurable with the values of modern cinema. Aside from the obvious difference that one relies purely on image while the other has the benefit of sound, we must also not forget that the cinema of the silent era is cinema in its infancy, in a constant state of the most early self-discovery (which is not to say that cinema has necessarily "grown up" or "progressed" into our modern era; our cinema today is only different than the cinema of the silent era, neither better nor worse.) Basically, we should check ourselves before we ridicule these films on the basis of irising, masking, et cetera and ESPECIALLY the exaggerated emotion and overblown gesturing of the actors. The conventions of the art of acting have, of course, their basis in that of the theatre, which preceded film, and where emphatic gesturing and stressed emotion was conventional in conveying story even to those seated in the back row.

All editorializing aside, Griffith's _Orphans of the Storm_ is a shining example of the director's masterful grasp of narrative cinema. The story is almost Dickensian in its feel, from its very beginning alternating between no less than five separate subplots, all of which become inextricably intertwined before the backdrop of the larger plot of the impending revolution in France. The acting performances are not, in fact, excessively overplayed, but are actually quite subtle and touching, especially those of the two orphans, the Gish sisters.

The visuals are stunning: the costumes and decor are lush and the recreation of late 18th century Paris is excellent. Most impressive to me is Griffith's expert command of montage, primarily through intercutting, in creating a engrossing story that, while complex in structure, is easily grasped. The film starts out on wobbly legs, but soon breaks into a steady gallop, raging through the glorious revolution to an admittedly predictable, yet satisfying conclusion. A grand achievement for one of the titans of early cinema: I give it a 9/10.

Adolphe D'Ennery's novel was one of those countless melodramatic maudlin stories which were thriving in France of the 19th century. DW Griffith decided to transpose the action just before and after French revolution.The novel was rather reactionary and its historical background was thin and vague.

But Griffith's vision of the French Revolution is naive,to put it mildly.He was not apparently aware that the 1789 events were mainly a bourgeois move,and the poor were only a tool.The dichotomy Good Danton/Wicked Robespierre should make people who are looking for a sort of historical accuracy have a look at Wajda"s "Danton"(with G.Depardieu,in the eighties).

Forget history and you have a two-hour and a half silent movie with never a dull moment.Griffith is a wonderful storyteller,who had a great respect for his audience.Some sequences are still impressive today:the aristocratic orgy,when the Poor are starving at the gates of the palace is far from D'Ennery's timid depiction of the scene in the book;Lillian Gish,a wonderful actress who 'd been part of the cinema till the eighties,is so powerful in her part of the abducted maiden Henriette we can almost hear her when she screams out of despair:"is there a man of honor among you?Louise and the shrew who got her under her thumb begging in front of the cathedral as the snow is falling is a splendid picture,recalling a painter's work;even if Danton's coming to the rescue of a soon-to-be guillotined Henriette is thoroughly implausible,we cannot help but admire the director's maestria.

Few silent movies have stood the test of time as well as this one.

"Orphans of the Storm" (United Artists, 1921), directed by D.W. Griffith, is a grand scale silent melodrama, by 1920s standards anyway, with the central characters being two young sisters (Lillian and Dorothy Gish) in a story that is divided into two parts. The first half, set prior to the French Revolution, is taken from the old play, "The Two Orphans" by Adolphe Dennery. The second half, lifted from Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities," takes place during the French Revolution, given the added excitement to a suspenseful climax in the Griffith tradition.

Part I of the story opens with the killing of a commoner. The slain man's wife is revealed to be the daughter of an aristocratic family who feel she was injudiciously married. They decide to take the infant child from her and leave it on the steps of Notre Dame Cathedral in the dead of winter where she might get picked up and adopted by some kind-hearted soul, with a note attached that reads, "Her name is Louise. Save Her." Later, as the snow continues to fall, a poverty-stricken father named Jean Girard, arrives to leave his own baby, Henriette, to the cathedral steps. After noticing the shivering infant Louise, Girard realizes that he cannot bring himself to do the same for his own child, so he decides to bring home both babies. After returning home to his wife with the babies, Girard encounters a purse full of money left with Louise. With this money, the Girard's rise above their poverty-stricken background and raise the two girls happily in a northern providence. Years pass. A plague comes, killing both parents, and blinding Louise (Dorothy Gish). Henriette (Lillian Gish), her sister and guide, accompanies her blind sister to Paris in the hope of locating a famous doctor who may be able to restore her sight. On their way, they attract the attention of Marquis de Praille (Morgan Wallace), a nobleman, who becomes so interested in Henriette that he arranges to have her kidnapped upon the arrival in Paris and brought to a lavish party given that night at his great estate, thus, leaving the blind Louise to roam the streets of Paris alone, until she is taken in by Pierre (Frank Puglia). But as fate would have it, Pierre has an old hag of a mother, Frochard (Lucille LaVerne), who decides to use the blind girl by having her sing and beg in the streets for money. At first Louise refuses, but after being left alone in a room surrounded by rats, she agrees to do her bidding. As for Henriette, she escapes the estate of De Praille with the aide of Chevalier de Vaudrey (Josef Schildkraut), an aristocrat who not only pities her, but agrees to help her search for Louise. During the search, Henriette falls in love with Chevalier, who, in turn, happens to be the nephew of Louise's birth mother (Catherine Emmett), still mourning for the loss of her child of long ago, now the wife of the famous count, who is unaware of his wife's secret past. PART II of the story continues to focus on Henriette's search for Louise and her encounter with Chevalier. After learning of Louise's whereabouts and being victim of the evil Mother Frochard, she locates the old hag who tells her that her sister has "died." But as Henriette gets closer to learning the truth and finding Louise, something always intervenes to prevent their reunion, especially the riot and outbreak of the French Revolution, having the aristocrats arrested, sentenced and executed by the one and only guillotine, with the innocent Henriette taken in to become one of those tortured victims.

"Orphans of the Storm" ranks one of the best of the DW Griffith silents, and one that should still hold interest throughout, particularly its story that plays liked a chaptered serial. Of all the supporting players, which range from Monte Blue, Sheldon Lewis, Creighton Hale, Louis Wolheim and Kate Bruce, Lucille LaVerne as the mean old hag named Mother Frochard, old clothes, uncombed hair and some missing front teeth, is the most memorable because of her natural meanness. One scene comes to mind is the one when, after forcing the blind Louise to beg on the streets as the snow falls around her, Mother Frochard decides to take the shawl away from her, feeling that the more she shivers, the more money she will collect. LaVerne would play a similar character in appearance in the 1935 MGM version of "A Tale of Two Cities" starring Ronald Colman. LaVerne leaves a lasting legacy playing old hags, especially during French Revolutionary times. Another memorable performance given in this production is by Leslie King (who sometimes resembles Boris Karloff), playing a character named Jacques Forget-Not, an unforgiving sort who avenges those aristocrats who tortured his poor father by sending them to their execution.

In spite of some flaws, and there are several, particularly a couple of unrelated scenes and unnecessary added comedy relief that distract from a viewer's attention, whose main focal point is on the two orphans, there are memorable scenes along with lavish background scenery and costumes that are an added bonus in capturing the flavor of 18th century Paris.

"Orphans of the Storm" was one of 13 silent features shown on public television's 1971 presentation of THE SILENT YEARS, as hosted by Orson Welles, with an original and excellent piano score accompanied by William Perry, the print that was formerly used in the BLACKHAWK VIDEO collection back in the 1980s, and the one formerly shown on Turner Classic Movie's SILENT Sunday NIGHTS before a new copy, available by KINO video, accompanied by a new (and very unsatisfying)chamber music score, clearer picture quality and a longer 150 minutes length. In spite of which version to see, "Orphans of the Storm" still ranks one of the best silents produced by the Griffith company shortly before the great director's decline. (****)

In the Eighteenth Century in France, a few years before the French Revolution, the Countess de Linieres (Katherine Emmet) asks her minion to deliver her baby daughter Louise to an orphanage to protect her. However he leaves the baby on the stairs of a church. A peasant finds Louise and brings her home to his wife and they find a necklace with her name and money in the basket. They raise Louise with their daughter Henriette as sisters, but years later there is a plague and they die and Louise becomes blind. Louise Girard (Dorothy Gish) is totally dependent on Henriette Girard (Lillian Gish) and they travel to Paris expecting to find the cure of Louise's blindness. The rogue Marquis de Praille (Morgan Wallace) sees Henriette and becomes fascinated with her virginal beauty. He asks his men to abduct Henriette and brings her to his party. Louise is left alone in Paris and the scoundrel Mother Frochard (Lucille La Verne) forces Louise to beg on the streets for her. Meanwhile the noble aristocrat Chevalier de Vaudrey (Joseph Schildkraut) saves Henriette and they fall in love with each other. But Henriette explains that she had promised Louise that she would not marry until Louise could look upon her husband to approve him. Meanwhile Danton (Monte Blue), who is saved by Henriette, and Robespierre (Sidney Herbert) are plotting the French Revolution that explodes on the streets keeping the sisters apart.

"Orphans of the Storm" is another magnificent epic by D. W. Griffith and his last success. The film impresses in many aspects, such as the screenplay, the set locations and fantastic camera work, with impressive angles considering the size of the cameras and the technology in the early Twentieth Century. The plot is a combination of heavy drama, romance and action and sensitive viewers will certainly need a handkerchief to see the touching scenes of the sisters set apart. The suspenseful conclusion, with Danton and his men trying to deliver the pardon of Henriette and Chevalier de Vaudrey, is suspenseful and thrilling. The lovely Lilian Gish is another attraction with a wonderful performance. Last but not the least, "Orphans of the Storm" is a mandatory film for any cinema lover. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Órfãs da Tempestade" ("Orphans of the Storm")

DW Griffith's fall from grace during the 1920s wasn't just because his technique began to look old fashioned. It was that his stories got worse. His narrative structures were inspired by great works of literature, particularly that of Charles Dickens, but his plots were often sourced from obscure novels or trashy stage melodramas. These stories were often implausible and simplistic, shortcomings he could only make up for with his sensitive cinematic technique and the reliability of his actors.

Orphans of the Storm is rather lazily-written, full of one-dimensional characters, predictable situations, and sudden coincidences leaping over gaps in the plot, as two sisters, one of them blind, lose each other, find each other, then lose each other again amid the chaos of the French Revolution. However, it's (just about) possible to overlook a bad story so long as it's well told. Unfortunately, Griffith appears to be following the trend of having more and longer title cards, explaining every point and feeding us superficial lines of dialogue, where the action alone should tell us what is going on. In some scenes, such as those where Dorothy Gish's blindness is brought up, we get the worst of both worlds, having not only the point-labouring title cards, but also exaggerated pantomiming, with characters pointing emphatically at both eyes.

Griffith should have known that all his best moments were wordless and understated. Thankfully, he has not forgotten how to direct a good love scene, and those between Joseph Schildkraut and Lillian Gish are particularly effective, framed plainly in a series of close-ups, barely moving their faces but conveying a world of emotion. This was Schildkraut's first American picture, and he is one of the most pleasingly natural and convincing lead men Griffith had worked with thus far. With his fine, sharp features he was also appropriately handsome, although a few films later he would play Judas in King of Kings, and subsequently became a bit typecast. As for Gish, she is far more satisfying here in one of her serene and sensible roles, as opposed to the hysterical girly parts she was increasingly given. The other standout in this cast is Monte Blue as Danton, whipping a crowd into a frenzy without once resorting to hamminess.

It was a long-established rule that every major Griffith picture had to feature a battle somewhere in the middle, and end with a climactic ride-to-the-rescue. By 1921 these action sequences were becoming a trifle uninspired. The battle between revolutionaries and soldiers has a great build-up, but then resorts to bland god-shots, making the moment suddenly seem very cold. The finale is one of Griffith's least engaging, I think because while the ride itself is excitingly shot and edited, the business at the guillotine is just a lot of faffing around, a far cry from Bobby Haron's haunting walk to the scaffold in Intolerance.

In spite of all this, Orphans of the Storm – like every Griffith feature I have seen – does have its absolutely divine moments. There's a very dynamic sense of rhythm to the scene at the ball and the later celebration of the victorious revolutionaries. The reunion of Schildkraut and Lillian Gish is both powerful and sensitive. Griffith may have been beginning to slip, but at least he was failing beautifully.

Two ORPHANS OF THE STORM caused by the French Revolution desperately search for each other in the violent chaos of Paris.

History's sweeping drama comes alive in this powerful epic film from legendary silent movie genius D. W. Griffith. Although much happens on a broad canvas, the director never loses sight of the intimate details of the heroines' pitiful plight. In denouncing tyranny, Griffith always manages to keep the viewer engrossed in how the State's insidious evil affects the individual.

Much of the film's success is due to the remarkable acting of the Gish Sisters, Lillian & Dorothy. Acclaimed for her comedic talents, Dorothy here gives an almost completely serious performance, portraying a blind girl cruelly separated from her beloved sister and forced to beg in the streets. Lillian, her classic face mirroring a myriad of emotions, plays the sibling persecuted by both lecherous aristocrats and rapacious revolutionaries. The scene in which Lillian, in an upper chamber, hears Dorothy singing in the alley below but is unable to reach her, is almost unbearable in its emotional intensity.

A young Joseph Schildkraut plays Lillian's blue-blooded suitor, giving the viewer an intimation of the very fine character actor he would become with the advent of talking pictures. Lucille LaVerne steals more than a few scenes as the filthy harridan who enslaves and terrorizes Dorothy. Frank Puglia makes a poignant mark as Miss LaVerne's pathetic, downtrodden son. Comic actor Creighton Hale gives a lively performance in a small role as a mischievous, periwiged servant.

A fascinating aspect of the film is its vivid rendering of two historical characters of great significance in the history of France. Georges Danton was probably not as noble as he is portrayed by Monte Blue, nor was Maximilien Robespierre necessarily as evil as Sidney Herbert depicts him. What is certain is that both men were responsible for the deaths of thousands of individuals during the Reign of Terror. Fittingly, each man had his own rendezvous with Madame Le Guillotine in 1794.

Movie mavens will recognize an unbilled Louis Wolheim as the executioner awaiting Miss Lillian on the scaffold.

Griffith handles the sequences involving surging masses of extras with admirable dexterity. He also freely borrows a few plot elements from Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. In fact Miss LaVerne, with scarcely a costume change, would play the role of The Vengeance in MGM's 1935 version of that classic, violent novel.

D.W. Griffith loved epic stories full of dangerous situations and damsels in distress. With the beautiful and talented Gish sisters, he got two damsels for the price of one. "Orphans of the Storm" is probably the most beautiful of all Griffith features. The lavish detailing of the sets is much better than "Intolerance" or "Broken Blossoms" and the costumes are magnificent. By this time in Griffith's career, his direction was already beginning to become stale and his plots too old-fashioned, but somehow he makes "Orphans" work to his advantage.

Lillian Gish is Henriette Girard and her sister Dorothy plays her "Sister" Louise. The amazing Joseph Schildkraut plays de Vaudrey, a nobleman who truly is noble. The "storm" in the title refers to the French Revolution, which is the background this story of family and romantic love plays itself upon.

As usual, Lillian Gish is wonderful in her role as the devoted sister Henriette; but it is Dorothy Gish as blind sister Louise who is truly the star of the film. Her performance drips with the pathos, pain, and longing that most people associate with her older sister. Schildkraut shines in this, his first Hollywood film role.

The frequent ridiculous scenes (Danton running to save Henriette from the executioner's blade?) and length of the film will turn most modern viewers off; but those who have a love of history, epic spectacle, and the timeless beauty of the Gish sisters will enjoy "Orphans of the Storm".

If pushed to the wall I think that most film historians will agree that the first great director/player team in American film is that of D.W. Griffith and Lillian Gish. The last collaboration of that team is Orphans Of The Storm in which sister Dorothy had a prominent role as another orphan.

The source for this film is a story of French origin, the kind of material it would be impossible to do today, it would date so. Lillian and Dorothy are a pair of adopted sisters, Dorothy is in fact of noble birth, but as an infant she was abandoned because her mother had married a commoner and such was not done in Bourbon France.

The story of Orphans Of The Storm is how Lillian and Dorothy raised together, get separated through time and circumstance and in between when they reunite, France undergoes a revolution.

Although Griffith's source of the story was French, he relied heavily on Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens. Carlyle's history and A Tale Of Two Cities by Dickens became the picture that the average person in the English speaking world had of those times in France it would have been what the movie-going public expected. As history Orphans Of The Storm falls way short.

As entertainment to this day the Gish sisters will tear your heart out with their troubles and turmoil. Playing the part of an aristocrat with a conscience like Charles Darnay in A Tale Of Two Cities is a young Joseph Schildkraut. It was clear he would have a long career ahead of him and his speaking voice enhanced his employment opportunities when sound came in.

Lillian Gish when she wrote her memoirs in the 1970s and who knew she still had a substantial career ahead of her, entitled the book, The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me. Reading that book and hearing interviews with her while she was alive, I don't think I ever heard any player convey more love for her art and her mentor than Ms. Gish did. From The Birth Of A Nation until The Whales Of August no one ever had a longer or more fruitful career in film than Lillian Gish.

I don't want to shortchange Dorothy either. Her part called for her to lose her sight and you will rarely see innocence portrayed quite as touchingly as she does in Orphans Of The Storm. An unseen hand of Providence protects those like Dorothy Gish. Doesn't hurt to have a caring sister.

If you're a silent movie fan, this film is an absolute must as well as a fan of the Gish sisters.

Henriette (Lillian Gish) and her sort-of adoptive sister Louise (Dorothy Gish) must travel to Paris on the eve of the French revolution so that Louise can have an operation to reverse the blindness she suffered as a result of the plague (which also claimed her adoptive parents). However, they soon become separated once in Paris: while Louise is left at the mercy of an unscrupulous beggar woman, Henriette finds herself the target of a salacious nobleman with plans to ravish her at his midnight orgy.

How's that for bodice-ripping melodrama? D. W. Griffith, who could still just about do no wrong back in 1921, produced yet another drama on an epic scale, little realising he was on the cusp of an irreversible decline that would see him unable to win work of any kind within a decade. There's little sign of his powers waning here as he delivers a big, ambitious spectacle that sets the intimate relationship of two half-sisters against the broad canvas of the French revolution. Judging from the inter-titles, Griffith's prime motivation was to highlight the similarities between the manipulation of the revolution by such men as Robespierre with the then-recent revolution in Russia and the dangers of such an event occurring in (gasp!) America. Of course, we all now know that D. needn't have worried himself, but his sincerity is certainly evident in the attention to detail, and the lavish sets and costumes of the film. The debauched midnight party is something to behold, and put me in mind of all those modern day films and videos in which young and edgy directors think they're doing something special by adding a kitsch glamour to the frocks and wigs of the noble women in their period films. The fact is Griffith was eighty years ahead of them.

Sadly, as with most of Griffith's films when viewed today, there's a down-side due to the horrendous over-acting of some of his players. Lillian Gish is OK most of the time – she always seemed to exercise an admirable restraint in her performances no matter who she was working under – but her little sister Dorothy goes over the top a little too often. Even she is outplayed by Monte Blue, who plays Danton, in his big climactic scene; clutching one hand to his chest, he holds his other aloft as if tightly grasping a half-inflated balloon partially filled with water, and pulls wild faces as he begs the People's Court to have mercy on the poor little orphans. As a device to emphasise the drama of the moment it no doubt worked fine ninety years ago, but today such displays border on the comical.

The pace of the film is surprisingly good considering its age and running time – a bum-numbing 150 minutes – and despite introducing the audience to a large cast of characters within the first ten or fifteen minutes, Griffith does a good job of not confusing his audience. Needless to say, the last reel, with the customary race against time to save the imperiled heroine, is a master-class in cross-cutting and still manages to get pulses racing even today.

Despite the melodramatics from certain members of the cast, I found Orphans of the Storm a more accessible and enjoyable film than the likes of Birth of a Nation and Intolerance, which are held in higher esteem by most people. Griffith's touch seems much more assured than with BoaN, and the storyline is obviously less fragmented than it is in Intolerance.

I sometimes feel that people who are not sympathetic to the silent era and its genre should not view or comment on them.

As a long-time maven of silent films, I have no problem placing myself in that era and enjoying these movies on their own terms. Much has changed since those days, and most folks simply cannot appreciate the simplicity AND complexity of photoplays without words.

This film is magnificent and entertaining. I am not a fan of most "period pieces", but this transcends the typical fare. Check it out.

A true classic. This silent era movie (1921) is not only a film historians dream, but is enjoyable for all generations of film fans. D.W Griffith was known for his bold faced way at voicing his opinions through films. I have never seen such a great show of emotions than with the Gish Sisters. I don't think anyone has ever been able to match Lillian's facial expressions and the way she uses the absence of sound to her advantage. A tremendous story unfolds before the viewer that leads to a riveting conclusion that will etch this film into your mind and heart forever. Also appearing in this film is the great actor Monte Blue, who was a great leading man in many films. .

Am a big fan of period dramas and older films, have been from an early age, and for a while (though not as long a time admittedly) have strongly appreciated silent films. Many classic ones out there, the best of FW Murnau's work and early Fritz Lang being strong examples. Have a lot more to see of DW Griffith's work, but from what has been seen of his he is/was a fascinating director and one can see why he was such a prolific director in his day.

'Orphans of the Storm' really does send up a storm and is one of Griffith's best, most ambitious, most visually beautiful, most emotional and most interesting films. 'Orphans of the Storm' is a long film, perhaps a little too much so, but is nonetheless very compelling and emotionally investable. With the best visuals of the film being truly spectacular for a silent film and for any film for that matter. On the whole, it is not a film to be missed if one can help it, or at least if silent films, period dramas and films based in the terrifying French Revolution era fascinates you.

To this day, 'Orphans of the Storm' still looks fantastic, those sets and costumes are a wonder to behold and the photography is beautiful to look at, not stagy and quite inventive for so early on. The interpolated score doesn't overpower the drama or feel too low key. Some may consider the film too sentimental, for me it was incredibly moving with more than one memorable sequence (the spectacularly stirring crowd action and the walk to the guillotine).

It also captures the terror of the Revolution (a terrifying period for France) brilliantly, for example even thinking about that inhumane execution method the guillotine is enough to give me the shivers. Griffith's direction is adept and he draws heartfelt performances from Dorothy and Lillian Gish, particularly Lillian who tells so much with her amazingly expressive face and eyes and a beautifully understated one from Joseph Schildkraut. Interesting to see pre-'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' Lucille LaVerne.

By all means, 'Orphans of the Storm' is not a perfect film. There are some comedic moments here and there and they do not gel with the rest of the film and are very unsubtle.

Monte Blue also takes histrionics too far.

Concluding, truly great and more a flawed near-masterpiece. A Griffith essential. 9/10

D.W. Griffith was essentially the father of epic cinema. While there were some epic films before his landmark achievement "The Birth of a Nation" (most notably "Cabiria" and "The Last Days of Pompeii"), epic cinema wasn't really all too popular notable before Griffith came along.

As influential and innovative as it may be D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" certainly isn't for everyone, because of the harsh racism and glorification of the dreaded Ku Klux Klan. However, even if you are highly against THAT film, I still think that some of his other epics are worth a look!

His best is probably "Intolerance", but another great one that comes to mind is this film, "Orphans of the Storm"!

Set during French Revolution, this grand historical epic, to put it simply, mainly centers on the loving bond of two sisters (played by two actual sisters, Lilian and Dorothy Gish) and their tragic separation and attempt to find each other again. Along the way, there's action, adventure, and some true melodrama as well as some truly innovative filmmaking.

The editing and filmmaking techniques used here are truly influential and are still used to this day. Griffith's lens really manages to capture the intensity of certain moments thanks to his genius editing and cinematic eye.

However, I must warn you, the film is LONG! In fact, the only problem I have with it is its length. It really dragged at times and I'm sure that if you cut out a couple of scenes the film would still work just fine.

That being said, "Orphans of the Storm" is a true epic masterpiece. There's many shots here that deserve to be framed and hung in a museum somewhere!

Griffith created this film three years after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. It is apparent that he is expressing his antipathy towards that Revolution through this film. He does this explicitly by anachronistically calling the evil revolutionaries in the film "Bolsheviks". His characterization of Danton and Robespierre may perhaps be taken to be references to Lenin and Trotsky.

The film certainly takes a clear, if ambiguous, political stance. It supports the peasants and workers of France against the aristocracy for the first hour and a half. Suddenly, as the revolution begins, the movie switches and paints the same peasants and workers in hysterical and savage tones in the last hour. This was the feeling of the ruling oligarchs in America at the time, the Czar and the aristocracy were terrible people in Russia, but the communists were worse.

One interesting theme is that class does not matter and that people are good or bad regardless of what class they may belong to. This was a direct attack against the socialist ideal and practice of class-based parties.

As far as being a story teller, Griffith is flamboyant and exuberant. He throws in fabulous sets, costumes, make-up, acting and dazzling shots. The editing is dynamic. As with many of Spielberg's movie, great cinematic technique overcomes a lackluster story ("Close Encounters of the Third Kind," for example)

One can see some interesting psychological processes in Griffith from the movie. Notice that both Gish sisters are the objects of near rape in the film. Griffith has both the aristocracy and the revolutionists engaging in grand orgies. On one level we/Griffith are supposed to associate this type of hedonist behavior with anarchy, chaos and evil. On the other hand, these scenes contain some extraordinary beautiful and memorable shots. The line dances in the garden of the aristocracy and the swirling, mad dance of the revolutionaries through Parisian streets are quite extraordinary. Did Bergman get his ending for "The Seventh Seal" from this movie?

I also noticed that the film contains about three seconds of female nudity with the right breast of a woman in a fountain of wine clearly exposed. Shocking! I believe the film was made the same year that D.H. Lawrence released "Women in Love."

I also think it is interesting that both this movie and Chaplin's "City Lights" have a plot that turns on a young blind woman. It seems to be that the silent filmmakers may have thought of their lack of speech as a sort of handicap and thus the blind beautiful woman is a kind of metaphor for silent movies themselves.

French Revolution. Two sets of people: the aristocrats (including the Court), and the people. With only two single men as exceptions, both sets are depicted as complete imbecils, each in their own way. The nobles are corrupted and amoral, the people is a slew of drunken hoodlums. The exceptions: Danton (among the revolutionary people), and, for the aristocrats, a Chevalier de Vaudrey.

I'm not surprised about the over-simplification of both characterization and world history in the case of D. W. Griffith, a director known for his mastery of the cinematic medium as well as for his racism. I'm not surprised either of the film's very good narrative pace, though the movie is a litte too long, in my opinion.

Two characters stand out: the step-sisters Henriette and Louise (played by the real sisters Lillian and Dorothy Gish). They cannot be assigned to any of the two categories mentioned before. (By the way: they are not properly orphans, as the title suggests, but that's beyond the point). Anyways, I must note that Henriette's (lovely Lillian Gish's) face is quite the same when it is in the guillotine, at the end, or when it happily jokes with her sister's, at the beginning.

When a hundred years passes from the making of a film, something changes.

(1922) Orphans of the Storm SILENT ADVENTURE/ HISTORICAL

Adapted from book by Adolphe d'Ennery and Eugène Cormon called "The Two Orphans", centering on two abandoned baby orphans left outside of a church, just because the mother made out with a commoner as opposed to being with royalty, which was her duty as part of being with the aristocrat family. After being left on the Church steps, a harmless beggar then comes to it's aid and with the help of his wife, and a few silver dollars left in the babies blanket, decides to raise it as his own. Jump to many years later, and the two grow up into their teens, one of them grow up to be veteran actress Lilian Gish, Henriette Girard except her sister, Louise Girard (Dorothy Gish) who eventually goes blind, making a pact with each other that neither of them were to be married, until her sister Louise get the operation she needs in order to see. Quite long since it involves many subplots and a cast of thousands which is almost like two different films made into one.

To a modern viewer, the acting comes off as ridiculously mannered; the sentimentality is cloying, and, when I saw it, the film drew several unintended laughs from the audience by pointing out an anti-Communist moral to the French Revolution! However, it's worth seeing simply for the lavish visual style; many shots are composed as beautifully as paintings.