GamerTab That was an excellent one.

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

MissSimonetta Orphans of the Storm (1921) was DW Griffith's last major hit before his rather old-fashioned style became out of fashion with the progression of the Roaring Twenties. It is a beautifully shot film, with lovely costuming and sets. The action sequences with the peasants storming the Bastille and the rescue of Lillian Gish from "the gates of death" are rendered with the usual Griffith excitement and masterful control of crowds; however, I confess I find this movie to be a major slog, way too long for its slight story. Half an hour could have easily been cut without damage to the plot. I'm with critic and Griffith biographer Richard Schikel: the movie is over-busy and not as emotionally engaging as it needs to be in order to be memorable. There's plenty of spectacle and excellent editing, but when I don't care about the cardboard characters, and the story is overstuffed and unengaging, then to what effect is it?And then there's the acting, which is the overripe sort that most sadly associate with all silent film. Joseph Schildkraut, one of the finest actors of this period who would be relegated to character parts later on, is a little stiff, but he does manage some good moments as Lillian's love interest and looks gorgeous in his 18th century getup. Lucille La Verne is great fun as the hag who kidnaps and exploits Dorothy Gish. Everyone else is woefully overdone. Dorothy Gish could easily steal the show when playing comedic roles or spunky young women as she did in Hearts of the World (1918), but here, as the blind damsel in distress, she just fades into the background, even when overacting as she tends to do in the big emotional scenes. Lillian Gish is the worst offender, all hand wringing and hopping and shrieking and mugging, mugging, mugging. She's a great actress, one of the finest of the silent era and of all time, but she did need to be reigned in some times and Griffith just had her go nuts. After this film, she'd be free of Griffith and go on to do much superior work with other directors, like King Vidor and Victor Sjostrom.I know it has its fans, but I have a hard time mustering up much enthusiasm for it. As far as Griffith's feature work goes, I much prefer Intolerance, Broken Blossoms, and Way Down East; however, the film is certainly superior to America, Griffith's clunky 1924 epic of the American Revolution.

Jackson Booth-Millard From director D.W. Griffith (The Birth of a Nation), this silent film featured near the beginning of the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and I was looking forward to seeing what it was about. Basically stepsisters Henriette Girard (Lillian Gish) and Louise Girard (Dorothy Gish) were less alone after the loss of the parents who looked after them, Louise being abandoned by her true birth mother and found on a staircase, and the sisters have grown up as orphans. It is the time before the French Revolution, and Louise has become blind, Henriette vows to take care of her, until the possibility that somewhere in Paris there may be a cure. Marquis De Praille (Morgan Wallace) is the lusting aristocrat, who kills the child of Jacques-Forget-Not (Leslie King), and he has Henriette abducted as he is besotted with her virginal beauty. While Louise is left helpless and alone, she is kidnapped by Mother Frochard (Lucille La Verne) and forced to help make the old hag the money that she lusts for, the old woman is using her blindness and vulnerability for profit. Chevalier De Vaudrey (Joseph Schildkraut) is the honourable aristocrat who helps Henriette escape her abduction, and he kills De Praille in a duel, but together the two of them cannot seem to find her stepsister. While renting in the house of the aristocrat, she meets Danton (Monte Blue), a politician she allows to stay with her after he got away from an attack by Royalist spies, and he falls for her, which his revolutionary friend Robespierre (Sidney Herbert) isn't approving of. While Louise continues having to beg, Henriette is proposed to by De Vaudrey, which she turns down, but he promises her that her sister will be found, and when King Louis XVI (Lee Kohlmar) finds out about his choice of wife, he orders that she be arrested. While Chevalier is sent away, and before the police come for her, Henriette is visited by Cheavalier's Aunt, who remembers from Henriette's discussion of her missing sister that she is the baby that she abandoned on a staircase. At the same moment Louise is singing and begging blindly down the street near the house, with Frochard nearby, and Henriette overhears and calls from the balcony to her sister, and that is when the blind sister is dragged away, and the other is arrested. At the same time as Louise being forced to continue begging, The French Revolution starts, with cannons firing and men charging with swords, with many people dying in the battle, and prisoners, including Henriette, being freed from captivity. Henriette and Chevalier, with Louise listening, are sentenced to be executed on the guillotine by Robespierre and Forget-not, but they are saved by Danton after getting them a pardon, saying that only Louise's sister can look after her. In the end the two orphans are finally reunited, Louise is happy to have her eye sight restored and see her sister Henriette, and the France has a better Republic formed. Also starring Frank Losee as Count De Linieres, Katherine Emmet as Countess De Linieres, Sheldon Lewis as Jacques Frochard and Frank Puglia as Pierre Frochard. Having seen The Artist I was keen to see many more great silent films, and I don't know why this film isn't considered more of a masterpiece, i.e. five stars out of five, because it does really draw you in with its absorbing material and a magnificently emotional story, it is a fantastic silent period melodrama. Very good!

st-shot With the French Revolution as backdrop DW Griffith exposes his constant heroine Lillian Gish to depraved aristocrats and blood thirsty revolutionaries in Orphans of the Storm. Made during the Red Scare in America Griffith takes the opportunity to promote democracy and denigrate runaway Bolshevism in this silent epic filled with his signature montage and grand compositions.Louise (Dorothy Gish) the abandoned daughter of an aristocrat is taken in by the destitute Girards. Raised as a sister with Henriette she loses her sight but has a fierce protector in her sibling who travels with her to Paris on the eve of full revolt led by Danton and Robespierre. Through the diabolical machinations of of an aristo she is separated from her sister and spends most of the film attempting to re-unite with her and avoid the guillotine. In her search she is assisted by the aristocrat DeVaudry (Joseph Schildkraut) as well as Danton (Monte Blue) who can find time from overthrowing the country to rescue Henriette from the blade. Griffith straddles the fence in this history piece with praise for individuals but condemnation for both sides. Most of the aristocrats are degenerates, the revolutionaries blood lusting and depraved and Griffith fills his canvases with scenes of bacchanalian reverie and sadistic cruelty to drive the point home. Danton may be a champion of the people but Robespierre and Jaques "Never Forget" seem bent on revenge and blood letting while the decent side of the aristos is represented by Henriette's compassionate pursuer DeVaudry.Politics aside Storm is filled with sumptuous sets and crowd scenes that convey the frenzy of the moment and the accompanying delirium of be headings and dancing in the street. Lillian Gish is both delicate and determined and in scenes with Dorothy the two are quite touching to watch. Monte Blue's Danton is a bit over the top but the sharp venal features of Robespierre and Jaques Never Forget seething with hatred express themselves perfectly with a mere look. While it may not be the mega epic that Intolerance and Birth of a Nation are Orphans of the Storm proves that size isn't everything and it remains one of Griffith's best efforts.

kidboots Certainly, with this film, Griffith had lost none of the flair and innovation that were to desert him later on in the 20s. The cross cutting worked amazingly at the climax of the film as Danton's troops race to rescue Henriette from the guillotine - I was on the edge of my seat.Lillian Gish is one of the greatest of actresses but it is interesting that when she was teamed with her sister, Dorothy was always given the more interesting part. In this film she plays the blind Louise and she is able to add some whimsical comedy bits to her role (polishing her shoes, stretching when she steps out of the carriage).By combining real historical figures and fictional characters in an exciting story of the French Revolution you feel you are watching "living history". The film takes some time to get into the main story but once it does - there is no stopping it!!!Baby Louise is left at a foundling home by people that have slain her father. Baby Henriette is being left by her father at the same home because poverty has left them destitute. When he sees Baby Louise on the snowy steps he is over come with remorse and takes them both home. They find a note in a locket with Louise's name and the words "Save her" - also a purse of gold coins.As the years pass Henriette's parents die of a fever that has also left Louise blind. On their way to Paris Henriette catches the eye of an evil nobleman who is determined to take her to a gala fete he is givingeven if it means kidnapping her - which he does!!! At the fete Henriette is frantic, calling for help which she gets from a kind nobleman Chevalier de Vaudrey (Joseph Schildkraut) who after a duel whisks her away to lodgings. Louise has been taken by an ugly old crone (the magnificent Lucille La Verne) who forces her to sing in the street ("you'll shiver better without that shawl") and when Louise refuses throws her into a rat infested cellar. Pierre (Frank Puglia) the youngest son who is taunted and bullied by his mother and older brother becomes Louise's protector. After a realistic fight in which he stands up to his family - he then helps Louise find her sister.Henriette and Vaudrey fall in love. She also helps Danton (Monte Blue) escape a rogue mob thus gaining an enemy in Robespierre (Sidney Herbert) whom she accidentally snubs. Vaudrey's mother, Countess De Linieres visits Henriette to ask her to give him up and when there finds that Louise is the daughter she was forced to give up. Henriette hears Louise singing in the street and calls to her but before they can be reunited she is arrested because she gave shelter to an aristocrat (Vaudrey).It all ends happily with a picnic in a rose garden (I, too, was glad that Pierre was saved and allowed to end his days happily under the care of Countess De Linieres).Fortunately the humour of Creighton Hale is kept to a minimum. The gala fete sequence is beautiful set with tableaux depicting famous paintings of the day (Fragonard's "The Swing").Highly recommended.