| ~Way Down East~ 1920 |
| ~Lillian Gish~ |
| ~?, ?, Richard Barthelmess, Lillian Gish, ?, Lowell Sherman~ |
| ~Plot Synopsis~ |
"I'm not a bad businessman", filmmaker D.W. Griffith once protested, "Honestly I'm not!" Yet
industryites were certain that Griffith had taken leave of his financial senses when he paid $175,000 for
the screen rights to the old Lottie Blair Parker stage play Way Down East. Considered out of date even
in 1920, the play told the story of Anna (Lillian Gish), the efficient yet secretive serving girl for a large
farm family. Anna falls in love with David Bartlett (Richard Barthelmess), the family's son, but feels
unworthy of him due to her checkered past. It seems that, years earlier, Anna had been duped into a
sham marriage by city slicker Lenox Sanderson (Lowell Sherman). When she became pregnant,
Sandson walked out on her. Shortly afterwards, her newborn child died, and Anna was shunned by her
home community. These facts come to surface when Sanderson returns to Anna's life as the local
squire. David's prudish father orders Anna out of the house and into a blinding snowstorm, but David,
after settling accounts with the duplicitous Sanderson, goes after Anna and claims her as his bride. In
adapting Way Down East for the screen, Griffith fleshes out the characters of Anna and Sanderson by
adding a prologue, which included one of those poignant scenes ever filmed: Anna's tearful insistence
that her dying baby be baptized. He also injected the weary old property with a jolt of sheer
showmanship, added a "last minute rescue" sequences wherein Anna, lying exhausted on an ice floe, is
rescued by David seconds before plunging over a precipitous waterfall. Even today's audiences, armed
with the foreknowledge that Lillian Gish enjoyed 73 hale and hearty years after the completion of Way
Down East, invariably gasp in fright and urge Richard Barthelmess to "hurry! hurry!" during the
climactic scene. Far from becoming Griffith's Folly as predicted, Way Down East was a huge
moneymaker. There is no better of Griffith's artistry than the fact that the 1930 talkie remake of Way
Down East, though directed by the formidable Henry King, failed to match the pathos and power of the
1920 version.
Plot Synopsis from allmovie.com
industryites were certain that Griffith had taken leave of his financial senses when he paid $175,000 for
the screen rights to the old Lottie Blair Parker stage play Way Down East. Considered out of date even
in 1920, the play told the story of Anna (Lillian Gish), the efficient yet secretive serving girl for a large
farm family. Anna falls in love with David Bartlett (Richard Barthelmess), the family's son, but feels
unworthy of him due to her checkered past. It seems that, years earlier, Anna had been duped into a
sham marriage by city slicker Lenox Sanderson (Lowell Sherman). When she became pregnant,
Sandson walked out on her. Shortly afterwards, her newborn child died, and Anna was shunned by her
home community. These facts come to surface when Sanderson returns to Anna's life as the local
squire. David's prudish father orders Anna out of the house and into a blinding snowstorm, but David,
after settling accounts with the duplicitous Sanderson, goes after Anna and claims her as his bride. In
adapting Way Down East for the screen, Griffith fleshes out the characters of Anna and Sanderson by
adding a prologue, which included one of those poignant scenes ever filmed: Anna's tearful insistence
that her dying baby be baptized. He also injected the weary old property with a jolt of sheer
showmanship, added a "last minute rescue" sequences wherein Anna, lying exhausted on an ice floe, is
rescued by David seconds before plunging over a precipitous waterfall. Even today's audiences, armed
with the foreknowledge that Lillian Gish enjoyed 73 hale and hearty years after the completion of Way
Down East, invariably gasp in fright and urge Richard Barthelmess to "hurry! hurry!" during the
climactic scene. Far from becoming Griffith's Folly as predicted, Way Down East was a huge
moneymaker. There is no better of Griffith's artistry than the fact that the 1930 talkie remake of Way
Down East, though directed by the formidable Henry King, failed to match the pathos and power of the
1920 version.
Plot Synopsis from allmovie.com
| Directed by: D.W. Griffith Written by: William A. Brady - play D.W. Griffith - uncredited Anthony Paul Kelly - scenario Based on the play Way Down East by Lottie Blair Parker as elaborated by Joseph R. Grismer (New York, 14 Dec 1903). |
| ~Cast~ Lillian Gish ... Anna Moore Richard Barthelmess ... David Bartlett Lowell Sherman ... Lennox Sanderson Burr McIntosh ... Squire Bartlett Kate Bruce ... Mother Bartlett Mary Hay ... Kate (the Squire's niece) Creighton Hale ... The Professor Emily Fitzroy ... Maria Poole (landlady) Porter Strong ... Seth Holcomb George Neville ... The Constable Edgar Nelson ... Hi Holler Mrs. Morgan Belmont ... Diana Tremont (uncredited) Josephine Bernard ... Mrs. Tremont (uncredited) Carol Dempster ... Barn dancer (uncredited) Patricia Fruen ... Her sister (uncredited) Mrs. David Landau ... Anna Moore's mother (uncredited) Vivia Ogden ... Martha Perkins (uncredited) Athole Shearer ... Barn dancer (uncredited) Edith Shearer ... Barn dancer (uncredited) Norma Shearer ... Barn dancer (uncredited) Florence Short ... The eccentric aunt (uncredited) Frank Walsh ... Barn dancer (uncredited) |
| ~Remaining Credits~ Produced by: D.W. Griffith Productions Distributed by: United Artists Produced by: D. W. Griffith Original Music by: Louis Silvers & William Frederick Peters Cinematography by: G.W. Bitzer, Charles Downs & Hendrik Sartov Film Editing by: James Smith & Rose Smith Art Direction by: Clifford Pember & Charles O. Seessel Costume Design by: Henri Bendel, O'Kane Cornwell, Lady Duff Gordon & Otto Kahn Second Unit Director: Elmer Clifton Assitant Directors: Herbert Sutch .... assistant director & Frank Walsh Stunts by: Elmer Clifton & Allan Law Camera Operator: Paul H. Allen Associate Director: Elmer Clifton Photo Doubles: Elmer Clifton & Katherine Johnston Decorative Titles: Victor Georg Lillian Gish Stand-In: Una Merkel Production Assistant: Leigh Smith Technical Director: Frank Wortman Length: 13 Reels Runtime: 165 Minutes Released: September 3, 1920 |
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| ~UI-405 Film Scene~ |
| ~UI-415: Film Scene~ |
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imdb.com - general information (data base form)
allmovie.com - plot synopsis
tcm.com - general information also including plot synopsis
afi.com - general information
