Orphans of the Storm

Image credit: Rotten Tomatoes

It’s interesting to consider the vast history of cinema, specifically the fact that we have gone through the advent of sound and colour and computer-generated effects and still there are so many terrible films in the world. As a modern movie-watcher, it tickles me particularly that I can go back and watch a black and white silent movie and still have as good a cinematic experience as if I were watching a contemporary flick.

This morning, I was back into my 1001 project (which now is horrendously outdated, but I’m still going to do it) and watched another epic drama from D. W. Griffith: Orphans of the Storm.

A French aristocrat is forced to abandon her baby born from a commoner and leaves it on the steps of a church with a single note, ‘Her name is Louise. Love her.’ A poor man is about to leave his own daughter, named Henriette, on the same church steps to save her from starvation, but instead brings both babies home and raises them as sisters. After losing their parents to a plague Louise (Dorothy Gish) is left blind and Henriette (Lillian Gish) determines to travel with her to Paris to find a cure. Shortly after arriving the two sisters are separated, Henriette being abducted by a lavish aristocrat and Louise forced to beg for the crooked commoners who ‘charitably’ take her in. As revolution brews in the streets, Henriette tries desperately to escape from her captor and reunite with her sister.

Orphans of the Storm is the last of D. W. Griffiths great, historical melodramas that tells a beautiful story of love in times of turmoil. As extravagant as any of his other works, it's both a visual feast and a dramatic, narrative triumph. Despite being based on a play, Griffith wrote the screen during filming, which obviously gave rise to all sorts of complications. But nevertheless, the film rose to the challenge and even today, remains a masterpiece of stage direction, set and costume design, and dramatic performances.

Sticking to one historical time period unlike Intolerance, the film takes place during the French Revolution giving Griffith ample space to dazzle audiences with lavish and excessive costumes as well as incredible sets that really hammer home the social disconnect between the aristocracy and the working class. Elaborate dresses, and suits, and hats, and wigs put us in mind of the ballroom scene in Labyrinth or an Ultravox music video while you can practically feel the lice crawling over you when you watch the scenes set in the street or impoverished hovels of the commoners.

Image credit: United Artists

The Gish sisters deliver performances that have been praised as the best of their careers, absolutely shadowing the otherwise male-dominated cast.

Filled with drama, romance, action, and suspense, Orphans of the Storm is a classic from a bygone era that still stands up.

Director: D. W. Griffith, 1921

Cast: Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Joseph Schildkraut, Franke Losee, Katherine Emmet, Morgan Wallace, Lucille La Verne, Sheldon Lewis, Frank Puglia, Creighton Hale, Leslie King, Monte Blue, Sidney Herbert, Lee Kohlmar & Marcia Harris