Silent Film Sources - Reviews

"Orphans of the Storm" Copyright 1921 by D.W. Griffith.  

Adapted from "The Two Orphans" By A. D'Ennery. Through Arrangement with Kate Claxton. 

CAST OF CHARACTERS: Josef Schildkraut, Creighton Hale, Monte Blue, Sidney Herbert, Lucille La Verne, Sheldon Lewis, Lucille La Verne, Frank Puglia, Morgan Wallace, Frank Losee, Leslie King, Catherine Emmet. 

ORPHANS OF THE STORM. Produced by D.W. Griffith.  

The Players: Miss Lillian Gish, Miss Dorothy Gish, Joseph Schildkraut, Frank Losee, Catherine Emmett, Morgan Wallace, Lucille La Verne, Sheldon Lewis, Frank Puglia, Creighton Hale, Leslie King, Monte Blue, Sidney Herbert, Leo Kolmer, Adolphe Lestine, Kate Bruce. (Supported by a Cast of Twelve Thousand.) 

Assisting Mr. Griffith were Hendrik Sartov, photographer, assisted by Paul Allen; Frank Wortman, technical director; Herbert Sutch, assistant director; Charles M. Kirk, designer of sets; Rose and James Smith, film editors; Edward Scholl, special effects; Charles Boss, scene painter, Anatole Danashaw, head of laby. Musical arrangement by Louis F. Gottschalk and William F. Peters. 
 
 

Griffith's strengths included the ability to craft a thin story into compelling cinema, and Orphans of the Storm offered no shortage of opportunities. The original stage play of two orphan girls cruelly separated by fate provided a firm narrative foundation. In other Griffith films, the sometimes unlikely twists of fate and persistent bad luck of the characters bordered on silliness. Here, adding the backdrop of the French revolution to the story gave the twists and turns of the story a dramatic source. 

The film is also blessed by one of Lillian Gish's finest performances. In a supporting role, Dorothy Gish displays her considerable comic flair, and her dramatic talents rival Lillian. The two play off of each other naturally and with great charm. Unlike the broad "barnyard" comedy in Griffith's earlier' Way Down East, the drama in Orphans is balanced by character-based humor. Because the story is built around the characters' affection as siblings, Lillian gets to express a full range of emotions over her missing sister, while still being comforted throughout the film by the romantic interest. 

Joseph Schildkraut puts enormous energy into his role as Lillian's extremely handsome aristocratic protector and paramour. Looking remarkably like Tom Cruise, Schildkraut's stage training makes him an effective leading man, without much help from Griffith. The romance and his role are undercut by the irony that Lillian's love for her sister is much stronger than her love for him. In the final scene of the film, the sisters are hugging each other while Lillian holds hands with her erstwhile husband-to-be. 

The film takes its time setting up the story, with multiple threads that periodically meet. In 18th Century France, a poor peasant leaving his infant daughter on the steps of a church sees another child, and overtaken by guilt, brings them both home. The girls are raised as sisters, though one, played by Dorothy Gish, becomes blind. once grown, they venture to Paris in search of a cure, where they are separated, and their fates will be determined by the tides of the French revolution. Despite the sprawling story the film is generally easy to follow, and the strong sequences flow naturally from the narrative. The result is very reminiscent of Dickens in setting and storytelling style, with his trademark parallel story threads, and key plot points based on separated relatives. 

On occasion, the music and editing appear to undercut the action. On closer analysis they enhance the emotion of scenes, and ensure that there are not too many dramatic climaxes. Griffith places delicate scenes where they are least expected. When Lillian Gish is sentenced to death by the tribunal, she is concerned only that her sister not learn of her fate. What could have been a bravura scene for the actress is delicately underplayed. 

There was a red scare in America in 1919/20, and Griffith was concerned that just as the Ku Klux Klan had embraced The Birth of a Nation, America's communists might believe that this film supported their calls for a revolution by the working class. An opening title editorializes that "the French Revolution RIGHTLY overthrew a BAD government. But we in America should be careful lest we with a GOOD government mistake fanatics for leaders." The excesses of the nobility are cataloged, but the film does not try to draw parallels with contemporary events in the United States. According to the film, the French revolution did not result from dynamic leadership from below, but was a spontaneous response to years of exploitation by the rich, resulting in class warfare. 

Griffith is interested in injustice, so the plot generally ignores the politics of the revolution, beyond the existence of factions on all sides. Nor does the film explain why unlike the American revolution, the French got out of control with mass executions. Griffith wanted to be historically accurate, and a reporter for The New York Times noted how the scenario relied on Thomas Carlyle's three volume 1837 "The French Revolution" for historical incidents. Despite these intrusions, the film is less a history lesson than a historical melodrama. 

The Kino on Video/Image Entertainment edition of Orphans provides the opportunity for a major reevaluation of the film. The master positive used for the transfer was made in 1960 from the original negative, and is nice and sharp with the appropriate tints added. The gatefold jacket includes an excellent, lengthy essay by Griffith scholar Russell Merritt, and a color reproduction of the original program booklet provides full cast and credits, plus stories on the production. The disc was produced by David Shepard. 

The Killiam Shows edition of Orphans, prepared in 1971, was formerly released on VHS at 126 minutes by Republic Home Video representing a transfer at sound speed of 24 frames per second. The laserdisc edition from Landmark Laservision was time compressed to 120 minutes to fit on a single disc. The Kino on Video/Image Entertainment edition of the film runs two and a half hours, yet surprisingly, the film seems shorter than before. Also, the Kino/Image restoration includes the original score composed by Louis F. Gottschalk and Wm. Frederick Peters arranged and performed by Brian Benison. 

These changes move the film closer to the original release, but they have a more significant impact. Before, when watching Orphans with the recorded score by William Perry or with a live piano or organ accompaniment, it seemed as if Griffith was trying to tell a linear story but kept getting sidetracked. But with the original speed and score restored, the film takes on the characteristics of a tapestry. There are two sequences in particular where the film once seemed to meander. 

Griffith crosscut the riveting scenes of the girls' entry into Paris with aimless documentary-style footage of the excesses of the rich at a wild party. These non-narrative scenes are cut in a very un-Griffith impressionistic style. The music provides a DeMille debauchery quality to the sequence, and the tints show a progression in the declining days of the aristocracy. The music cues make it clear when the two story threads meet when Lillian becomes an unwilling guest at the party. In the second part of the film there is a parallel section where the people of Paris celebrate the downfall of the aristocracy by dancing in the streets. (Review © 1997 David Pierce)