Orphans of the Storm

Name: Orphans of the Storm
Director: D W Griffith
Released: 1921
Duration: 2 h 5 min
Cast: Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Joseph Schildkraut, Frank Losee, Katherine Emmett

Save

1921
D W Griffith
125 mins

Summary

Silent period melodrama starring Lillian and Dorothy Gish. As the French Revolution approaches, Henriette takes her blind foundling sister Louise to Paris in the hope that her condition can be cured. But they are separated when an aristocrat takes a fancy to Louise.

Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Robyn Karney

Following on from Broken Blossoms in 1919 and Way Down East in 1920, DW Griffith, writing under the name of Gaston de Tolignac, here transposed Adolphe Philippe Dennery's play to the time of the French Revolution, built a period Paris on 14 acres at his Mamaroneck studios, and had his luminous star, Lillian Gish, and her sister, Dorothy, play the orphaned sisters caught up in the bloody events. The plot, bursting with colourful and melodramatic incident, has Lillian, the carer of her blind sister, sent to the guillotine for harbouring her aristocrat lover (the splendid Joseph Schildkraut making his screen debut), only to be saved at the last minute by the intervention of Danton (Monte Blue). Heavily sentimental and marred by Griffith's taste for unsubtle and inappropriate comedy, this isn't quite a silent masterpiece, but it is, nonetheless, visually spectacular and largely absorbing.

How to watch

Loading

Credits

Cast

rolenameHenriette GirardLillian GishLouiseDorothy GishChevalier de VaudreyJoseph SchildkrautCount de LinièresFrank LoseeDirectorKatherine EmmettMarquis de PrailleMorgan WallaceMother FrochardLucille La VerneJacques FrochardSheldon LewisDantonMonte Blue

Crew

rolenameDirectorD W Griffith

Details

Languages

Formats

Black and white