Way Down East (1920)
Directed By: D.W. Griffith
Starring: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Lowell Sherman, Burr McIntosh
Length: 145 min
Honors
#71 - AFI's "100 Years...100 Passions"
Nominated AFI's "100 Years...100 Thrills"
I wonder if Griffith ever put Lillian Gish into a role where her character doesn't suffer through much of the film. It always seems like she's crying or running for her life.
Gish plays Anna, a naive country girl that goes to the city to be with her wealthy aunt. While there, she meets Lennox Sanderson, a womanizer. He convinces Anna to marry him and keep it a secret. She heads back home and her secret meetings happen less and less. When she becomes pregnent, he tells her that they weren't actually married, that he had tricked her, and he left. Anna's mother dies soon after, and Anna moves into a room at an inn. While there, she gives birth and cares for her baby, but it becomes sick and dies. The woman running the inn finds out that she doesn't have a husband and kicks her out.
Anna finds her way to a farm and, after some hesitation, they take her and give her work to do (The farm is owned by Squire Bartlett). As it happens, a boy on the farm falls for Anna when he sees her, but he (David) is already arranged to be married to a woman named Kate. Kate draws the attraction of a scientist and her neighbor. Who is her neighbor? Why, it's Lennox of course! One day Lennox and Anna cross paths at he tells her that she has to leave but she refuses. Lennox reminds her that once they find out about her past, they will kick her out.
Well, what do you know! One of Squire Bartlett's children is in town one day when she runs into the woman innkeeper that booted Anna. She sees Anna outside of a window and tells the Bartlett child about her past. She informs Squire Bartlett of what happened. After some investigating, Squire Bartlett finds out the truth about Anna
During the middle of winter, during a terrible blizzard at night, Bartlett does what anyone would do. He kicked out of the house right then and there. But, before Anna goes running off, she reveals that Lennox tricked her and that he was the father of the baby. All hell breaks loose as Anna runs off and David runs off after her.
Where it gets the AFI nomination for Thrills is the scene that follows. She passes out on some ice that happens to be on a river. The ice breaks loose and she is sent down the river while David jumps between large pieces of ice on the river to make a daring rescue right before she was about to go down a waterfall. I was actually quite impressed with this scene. Even though during this time there was still a lot of inconsistency between shots, I was impressed that it tooked as good as it did (even though in some shots, you could easily tell the waterfall was only a few feet high.)
In the end, everything is forgiven, David marries Anna, Kate marries her scientist, and in the comedic relief portion, the Bartlett child that ratted Anna out marries some dead beat from the town. At this point, one of the first man on man kisses to be on screen happened (for a completely comedic purpose). The dead beat goes to kiss his wife, but she is distracted, bends down and he kisses another dude.
The film would become one of the most popular silent films made, taking in over five million dollars at the box office.
I have noticed that something that has become all too common in silent films is not common in a D.W. Griffith film. The pace of some of these silent films are really slow, to the point of painful boredom, and I'm talking about movies that are only 90 minutes or less. However, Griffith shows why he is considered the best silent film director in these movies. This movie was nearly two and half hours, yet it never dragged down. It kept a nice, steady pace throughout the movie. But, one thing I am getting a bit tired of is seeing Lillian Gish play the same basic character. The damsel in distress, the depressed, wounded girl. This was the third time where I see her play this through the entire film. However, looking at my list, we will get to see miss Lillian Gish with director D.W. Griffth one more time.
For historical rating, it's rated high. Voted as one of the top romantic movies in cinema history, an impressive chase/rescue scene at the end and the 5th biggest grossing silent movie.
For entertainment, well, it is a romance movie. And a long one, too. While the pace was good, the story was mildly interesting, it was filled with too many coincidences for my tastes. Coincidences just don't sit well with me. The Bartlett's neighbor just happens to be Lennox Sanderson. The woman innkeeper just happens to go to that town, on that day, and see Anna for that minute, and..and...and it just keeps going on. I don't like stories that rely too much on extreme coincidences, and this one did.
Historical Rating: 8/10
Entertainment Rating: 4/10