D.W. Griffith's lengthy silent melodrama about a naive young woman from the country who is taken advantage of by a cad. Later she finds love with a nice, sweet boy but her past comes back to haunt her. Never one to shy away from expressing his personal beliefs in his films, Griffith uses this simple story to sermonize about the moral character of men (basically they're all either doe-eyed innocents or total bastards) while also finding time to criticize the idle rich and prop up women as madonna figures. The opening title cards inform us men were never meant to be monogamous but we should try to be because Jesus said so...or something like that. Show that to your grandma's church group.Star Lillian Gish is terrific at expressing emotions with her face and body. Few actresses, silent era or since, have been able to convey so much without words. Then we have her performance in the climax. Watching Gish fling herself about in the ice and snow, knowing it caused permanent physical damage to her hand...well it's a disturbingly impressive dedication to one's craft. She really is one of the all-time greats. Babyfaced Richard Barthelmess and the rest of the cast are also good.On the negative side it is slow-going, particularly in the first half, with a lot of drawing room stuff and side visits through the local corn. As the film goes along, it becomes darker and more interesting, culminating in the justifiably famous snow storm finale with special effects provided by Mother Nature. Definitely worth a look for anyone who wants to see the best of the silent era, but I would advise against starting here. This is the type of film you need to be used to the silent movie pros & cons before attempting to watch it. That first hour or so is likely to drive away impatient viewers.

D.W. Griffith, quite possibly the man most associated with silent film as a dramatic artform, certainly the one that most comes to mind when limited to director-only (ruling out do-it-all auteurs like Chaplin and Keaton), and he is a creator of much of the universal language as well as the collective consciousness of silent film, the epic lengths, the recognizable intertitles, and of course, the glorious, copious melodrama, and there are few films that pack more melodrama into one over-the-top package than Way Down East.Way Down East follows the exploits of naive country girl Anna (Lillian Gish), who, after falling in even harder times, decides to come into contact with distant associates of wealth. One of these, cynical womanizer playboy Lennox (Lowell Sherman) attempts to court her, in an attempt to know her biblically. She, being a respectable young woman, of course refuses to indulge until she is married, so Lennox stages a sham marriage, does his business, and leaves her. Oh, but of course, he has also left her with, you guessed it, a CHILD! Once he got his way, Lennox refuses to have anything to do with her, and she is forced to raise the child on her own. She moves into a slummy apartment and is forced to claim that her husband has died, but those inquisitive patricians cannot let it lie, and discovers she was never officially married! Then, right on cue, the baby dies (or as the titles so sensationally put it, "a cold hand on her breast"). Once she is finally outed as a hussy harlot tramp have-not wench by the 'have's, she is forced to admit to her new beau that she is not only a virgin, but a hussy harlot tramp have-not wench, and is thus obliged to out her baby's daddy, and then, all hell breaks lose.Is there anyone else more perfect or practiced at this sort of histrionic theatricality than Lillian Gish? She had eyes to kill, a brittle delicacy that looks like you could shatter her with a sneeze, and the fact that everyone was always threatening to beat her up. Most of the rest of the cast are unremarkable silent veterans like Richard Barthelmess and Burr McIntosh, although Lowell Sherman plays affluent prick so well I'm convinced it was his own vocation.At 145 minutes, the film is way too long, including far too many characters and a lot of plot strands that don't really go anywhere, but this is really all part of the bloated indulgence of pure, undiluted melodrama, and although the film isn't 'great' in the objective sense, there's certainly a lot to be entertained by here.{Grade: 6/10 (C+) / #2 (of 2) of 1920}

WAY DOWN EAST (United Artists, 1920), subtitled "a simple story about plain people," reunites director D.W. Griffith with his BROKEN BLOSSOMS (1919) co-stars, Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess, in an old-fashioned story based on a vintage play that turned out to become something of a commercial success and one of the true classics of the silent screen to be still remembered today. Aside from the simple-minded story consisting of country people and snobbish relatives, with a tragic heroine, a farm boy and an interloper of society whose three specialties happen to be "ladies," "ladies" and "ladies," heading the cast, it's most crucial scene, set during a violent snow storm, is the key factor of the entire photo-play, given the most realistic effect filmed on location in Vermont during the dead of winter, with Gish suffering more in real life in the freezing cold than the heroine she was portraying. And how she suffered for the art of film making as demonstrated with the close-up of Gish's frozen face in the snow storm sequence. Set in a remote village in New England, the story begins with Anna Moore (Lillian Gish), a poor girl living with her widowed mother (Mrs. David Landau) who has fallen into hard times. At her request, Mrs. Moore advises Anna to seek aid from her rich relatives in Boston. Upon her arrival at the Tremont mansion, the snobbish daughters treat Anna like an outsider, while playboy Lennox Sanderson (Lowell Sherman), one of the party guests, takes a sudden interest in her. Because of her naive ways, Anna falls into the clutches of Lennox, who tricks her into a mock marriage and bound to secrecy from his father from whom he lives on his support. When Anna discovers she is going to have a child, she insists that he tell his family. Lennox on the other hand tells her the truth about not really being married, and walks out on her. After her mother dies, Anna seeks seclusion in a rooming house where she has her baby alone. Because the child is ill, she sends for a doctor, but it is too late. The child is dead. Since there is no proof of her having a husband, Anna is turned out by an unsympathetic landlady, Mrs. Poole (Emily Fitzroy), which leads her to a farm where she is taken in and cared for by the kindly Mrs. Bartlett (Kate Bruce), even though her husband, the Squire (Burr McIntosh), "the richest farmer in the neighborhood," has his suspicions. Anna finds love and happiness with their son, David (Richard Barthelmess), but things start to fall apart upon the arrival of Lennox, along with Martha Perkins (Viva Ogden), the town gossip, learning the truth about Anna's past, thus spreading the news to the Squire, who then orders the grief-stricken Anna out of his house, into the cold.The popularity of WAY DOWN EAST prompted reissues in later years in shorter prints, with the trimming of some comedy relief and other scenes from its original 140 to 107 minutes. For decades, a 1930s reissue with Vitaphone sounding score, often similar to the underscoring of THE JAZZ SINGER (1927), was the version available for theatrical and later video cassette from various distributors, notably Blackhawk and Grapevine Video. It's interesting to point out that while this is and remains a classic of the silent screen, why television revivals were limited? The icy river sequence was clipped for the American Film Institute tribute to Lillian Gish when televised in 1983. Even by watching this scene that leaves anyone with a cold feeling would want to go see this movie. Another scene worth noting is the crucial one where Anna (Gish) performs her own baptism on her dead baby, "Trust Lennox." In 1984, WAY DOWN EAST made news in movie magazines when, after five years of hard work, was restored to its original length and revived at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, much to the delight of silent film enthusiasts. Although the shorter version is an audience pleaser, the longer version does help make sense to the missing scenes such as whatever became of Anna's mother, for example. However, comparing the two, the restored version gives credit to the leading players and their roles in the opening while the restored version, available on both VHS and DVD format through Kino Video, does not, although its re-recording to the original soundtrack sounds almost similar to the 1930s reissue, slightly slower in tempo, but good overall.Other members of the cast include: Josephine Bernard (Mrs. Tremond); Porter Strong (Seth Holcomb); George Neville (Reuben Whipple); Edgar Nelson (Hi Holler); and Creighton Hale (Professor Sterling).Unlike BROKEN BLOSSOMS, where the characters played by Barthelmess and Gish are of equal status, WAY DOWN EAST belongs to Gish while Barthelmess has little to do, except for the key scene near the end. As famous as WAY DOWN EAST has become, the 1935 Fox Film remake starring Rochelle Hudson and Henry Fonda is something to consider in comparing to the original, but as remakes go, there's no comparison to the original, especially with the sincere performance by Lillian Gish giving one of her best screen performances of his career. Regardless of this being old-fashioned film making in the D.W. Griffith tradition, it's old-fashioned appeal and timeless theme that's actually part of the charm. Watch for it whenever it plays again on Turner Classic Movies. (***)

When the young country girl Anna Moore, played by early big movie star Lillian Gish, for the first time goes to the big 'moder'n town, things go from bad to worse for her. She gets tricked into a fake marriage, gets pregnant, her fake husband leaves her, the baby dies, in other words, this is a melodramatic movie alright.Lillian Gish definitely shines in this movie. I'm not her biggest fan, guess I'm more of a Mae Marsh person but I have to admit that she was totally great in this movie. The movie is filled with many more great and strong written and played characters, with also especially some great roles from Richard Barthelmess and Creighton Hale.It was surprising to see how actually humor filled this movie was, despite its melodramatic undertone and story. D.W. Griffith also had comical moments in it but this movie is almost a comedy at times. Especially the middle is mostly filled purely with humor. Quite in contrast with the melodramatic beginning and spectacular ending. It certainly goes at the expense of the drama at times.It's a well written movie, in which always something is happening. Especially the drama gets well developed and always keep things close to home, with real sensible emotions and feelings. It keeps both the characters and emotions always real, even when they're being over-the-top. It's also one of the many reasons why the ending works out so well.Definitely true that the last 20 minutes, or so, are the reason why this is an absolute classic and memorable movie. The breaking ice sequence, with a drifting Lillian Gish heading towards a waterfall is probably better known than the actual movie itself.The movie is great looking visually, with its sets and costumes but also with its camera-work and environments. The movie has some good looking establishment-shots, set in the beautiful nature.Not among D.W. Griffith's best works but in 1920 perspective this is an absolutely brilliant- and also really enjoyable movie, nevertheless.8/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/