Way Down East Movie Review

Way Down East was severely dated when D.W. Griffith spent the extravagant sum of $175,000 for the rights to turn it into a movie in 1920. Its star, Lillian Gish, was not the only one who wondered about the wisdom of acquiring a creaky piece of Americana which had been familiar to audiences since 1898. Clearly, Griffith realized that the tale of a country girl led astray by a rich adventurer had visceral appeal, and indeed it had and still does, even today. Viewers from other cultures wondered why the fragile Miss Lillian (or even a less virtuous heroine) had to be cast out into the snow by so-called good Christians. And contemporary viewers, realizing the physical dangers Griffith demanded from his cast and crew during a painfully realistic blizzard sequence, still wonder why anyone would put up with such sacrifices for the sake of a movie. But Way Down East, with all its flaws, is absolutely spellbinding, especially when Lillian Gish is onscreen. In the course of the story, she is transformed from a gauche poor relation, to an eager young bride, to a grief-stricken mother, to a hard-working family retainer. Like Hester Prynne (a role Miss Gish would later play), this discarded woman grows in strength and character by dealing directly with her limited lot in life, which is far more than can be said for those who ill-treat her. There is nice work by the ensemble players, too, notably the impossibly beautiful Richard Barthelmess as a farm boy who worships Miss Lillian from afar, but it is Gish's and Griffith's triumph all the way. An added bonus on some video transfers is a glistening toned and tinted 35mm print, plus a lovely score, personally approved by Griffith.

1920 107m/B Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Lowell Sherman, Creighton Hale, Burr McIntosh, Kate Bruce, Florence Short; D: D.W. Griffith; W: D.W. Griffith, Joseph R. Grismer; C: Billy Bitzer, Hendrik Sartov. VHS, LV, DVD