Orphans of the Storm |  | Director: D.W. Griffith
Actors: Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Joseph Schildkraut, Frank Losee, Katherine Emmet
Studio: Delta
Category: DVD
This item is no longer available
Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 159769
Format: Black & White, DVD, Silent, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 150 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
UPC: 018111234290
EAN: 0018111234290
ASIN: B0001EFU28
Theatrical Release Date: December 28, 1921
Release Date: February 24, 2004
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Amazon.com essential video
This is D.W. Griffith's last great success, an epic melodrama from 1922 about two orphaned girls (real-life sisters Lillian and Dorothy Gish) raised in the same house and tragically separated during the French Revolution's infamous reign of terror. While this is no Birth of a Nation or Intolerance, it still reveals Griffith's inimitable talent for spectacle and intimacy. Not surprisingly, it works best when focusing on the plight of the two sisters: Lillian is a peasant who cares for the blind Dorothy, a product of the deposed aristocracy. Orphans of the Storm is a film about intriguing pairings. Mingling with the upper class to help find Dorothy, Lillian falls in love with the handsome and compassionate Joseph Schildkraut (best known as Otto Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank) and beguiles the influential Danton. Dorothy, meanwhile, is held captive by a family of gypsies, and is fought over by two brothers. Despite the lavish sets and Lillian's stirring performance, the love stories and political tumult don't quite mesh. But there are two magnificent moments emblematic of Griffith's dual talents: When Lillian recognizes Dorothy's plaintive voice outside her window and comes to her rescue, and the thrilling climax when Danton rescues Lillian from the guillotine. --Bill Desowitz
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 17
 Touching October 13, 2009
SereneNight (California, USA)
Orphans of the storm is the touching black and white silent film about two young girls who become orphans shortly before the French Revolution. One of the girls is blind. After learning of a potential cure in Paris, the two attempt to travel there, but run afoul of an unscrupulous nobleman who kidnaps Henriette and Leaves Louise (the blind girl) in the streets to fend for herself.
Henriette finds herself taken to a debauched party where she is the center attraction. Louise is found by a kindly young man named Pierre, whose evil mother decides to exploit her as a beggar.
This film is quite lengthy and has several really touching moments. I particularly like the court scene, where Henriette begs the judge. The ending was also quite dramatic, particularly what Pierre does to save Henriette.
I'd recommend this film for fans of silent films. It was entertaining and really touching.
Early Hollywood Version of the French Revolution August 10, 2009
Alberto M. Barral (new york)
This film is a mixture of "A Tale of Two Cities" and some other tales and stories that in America have always been accepted as the 'true' story of the Revolution in France. It follows on the known elements of the fable of the event rather than the facts
Most important to Griffith's vision is the convoluted tale of two sweet looking, perpetually innocent young sisters that travel to Paris from the country at the with the worst possible luck. Henriette (Lillian Guish) and the blind Louise (Dorothy Gish) are not technically sisters, Henriette's mother married a commoner against her aristocratic family's wishes and they killed him and gave her child away by placing it at the doors of Notre Dame in Paris on a snowy day. A peasant who was on his way to deposit his own girl at the steps was so moved by Louise's crying that he kept both. Louise had alongside a beautiful diamond-ringed locket, a small bag with enough gold coins to change the family's course from poverty to middle class. Then both parents die suddenly of the plague and both girls decide to move to Paris.
On the road they are already victimized by a leering aristocrat who plots to have Henriette kidnapped. Henriette herself provided all the needed information in her conversation, while trying to keep him from wolfing her hands, neck or face with unsolicited kisssing and caressing. Of course Henriette is kidnapped right on arrival, Louise falls into the hands of a horrid beggar who uses her singing to extract more alms from passerbys. Eventually they will meet again, but this is the basic plot.
Griffith must have have had a very narrow and fantastical vision of pre-Revolutionary France, which comes through in the movie. This is the first movie I have ever seen where Danton, one of the radical and blood-thirsty leaders of the Jacobin faction of the Revolution is compared to Abraham Lincoln, surely this was a tremendous exaggeration to say the least. Danton's face, which has been preserved in numerous contemporary portraits and engravings is clearly that of a natural butcher, and the brutality of his personality is evident in every trait, leaving little doubt as to his capabilities in manipulating the mob through the Revolution, well documented from secondary sources, from its beginnings in the cafe-clubs to the early stages of the Terror, where he himself perished in the scaffold.
Precisely becausethis Revolution was a noble cause, more than justified by the hardships of an undisputed majority of the French, we sympathize with it, however, it is also an undeniable fact that it quickly morphed into a nightmare, which demonstrated the unfortunate appearance of both mass executions and executions without trial from the beginning. These features only got worse with time, and the French Revolution has continued to challenge film directors up to our own time with the many problems in presenting a balanced picture of the events. The aristocrats as portrayed by Griffith, with the sole exception of the Chevalier de Vaudrey who falls in love with Henriette, are all poisonous vermin, and we can not wait till they get guillotined. They are either too busy trying to fit in a carriage while carrying a huge wiged coiffeure or running over street children on their way into town.
Almost completely absent from the screen is the strong presence of the financially powerful middle classes that had long ago supplanted the aristocracy as the richest people in the country and which were both the catalyst and 'raison d'etre' of the Revolution itself. Only Danton and Robespierre appear to be neither pauper or aristocrat, which leaves them in a twilight zone of identity up to the point when they become players in the revolt. Griffith exaggerates further when he wants to show an exception: In another scene, so that we understand clearly that the Chevalier de Vaudrey is better than all the others, he finds a crowd of hungry people looking at bread in a window and goes in and buys everyone a loaf, but this is not enough; he proceeds to embrace and kiss a hideous looking woman, which is hard to believe, and then also gives her a bag of coins as a bonus.
Meanwhile it has been proven by both contemporary and older research that it was the financial help that France provided America through the ten long years from Independence Declaration in 1776 to the formation of a new Nation in 1787 that cracked the finances of the Old Regime, not the extravagance of the court or the follies of Marie Antoinette, although neither were insignificant in flaring the fires. No monument records this fact, no street or square bears his name, but it is nevertheless the truth as there was no parlament then, no assembly that 'voted' on this issue. It was the King and his cabinet who decided, at great cost, and as it turned out, disastrous consequences, to pursue this policy, not totally idealistic as it did carry the intention of checking England's power, but that nevertheless made possible the birth of America. Griffith chooses to forget that it was the absolute monarch, Luis XVI who consistently provided us with the funds to do our Independence, nothing indicating this important policy, which went on for years, is shown. We only see him briefly in the movie, rather inate in the middle of his court, where he announces for example the marriage of the Chevalier.
In general the condensation process that Griffith uses to use the story of the sisters, can not give an accurate development of the Revolution. It merely excites our curiosity as to how they are going to cope with it. Although Jefferson and Franklin feature a brief, insignificant appearance without any connection to the action for further development, nothing is shown about he efforts of Grovernor Morris, our first ambassador in France, to bring here the King and the Royal family as he saw the country disintegrate into anarchy, and he correctly realized that we owed our Independcence to this man, and not solely to the antics of Lafayette, a man that in France proved to be less than the ideal founding father. This plan was unfortunately never realized, but it would have accelerated America's role in international politics by placing America into the very center of European power politics within less than a generation after the Declaration of Independence, quite a feat. On another, more important socio-cultural perspective, such a strong influence from France may well have toned down the puritanical aspects of the developing culture, and stimulated education and the political thoughts of enlightenment that could have prevented the Civil War. Jefferson's correspondence at the time reveals an interesting penchant for denial in accepting the information provided by our American embassy, describing details of the massacres and brutality which was becoming commonplace. This is interesting from the perspective that an equally profound level of denial surely was a decisive factor a couple of generations later in the explosion of the Civil War over the issue of slavery, a subject that captured Griffith's imagination in another of his great films: "Birth of a Nation".
The cinematography is as usual with Griffith, wonderful to watch. The streets of Paris are an excellent effort to re-create the period, and the mob scenes particularly good at depicting the mix of carnage and carnival that characterized the early stages of the Revolution. The scenes in Versailles and the palaces of the aristocrats are adequately lavish, but it is very much better in the architecture and decor than the costumes, which are sometimes very different from the originals, particularly in the choice of patterns. The scene where Danton rushes to save Henriette from the blade of the guillotine is full of inaccuracies, as for example the location of the guillottine, which was the Place de la Concorde and not 'somewhere outside the city gates" . It does provide the drama and excitement of a modern car chase in an action movie, and it is also another version of Griffith's desparate plot to save a prisioner from execution in his earlier film, "Intolerance".
 Opinion of Orphans of the Storm July 9, 2009
J. Ferguson (Claremont, CA)
Orphans of the Storm is worth watching. To me, it is not a great film, but it is definately a good one from the silent era. Even if you are not a silent film fan, you'll come away satisfied. Take a chance.
Wonderful Epic of the French Revolution! December 29, 2008
Lynn Ellingwood (Webster, NY United States)
This film is truly wonderful and enjoyable and it makes you appreciate the earlier works of DW Griffith even more. DW grew with each film and the technical aspects become even more complex. Dorothy and Lillian Gish are sisters who travel to Paris on the verge of the French Revolution to find a cure for Dorothy's blindness. The women are woefully unprepared for the rough and tough Paris and both get lost into the city in different ways. Lillian gets caught up with aristocrats and Dorothy ends up with some very shady low life characters. As both struggle to get back together and survive the revolution. Did I mention that the two sisters aren't really sisters? Orson Welles has a great introduction to the film that shouldn't be missed. He is good at explaining DW Griffith's attachment to 19th century theatre and makes the case for forgiving that aspect of Griffith. This was Griffith's last major success, probably because the acting style he desired was becoming less popular and common in films. There is also a collection of rare photographs of Griffith and a 1908 film which Griffith acted in. The extras are well worth watching.
Sweeping and Romantic April 30, 2007
Bobby Underwood (Manly NSW, Australia)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
"Her name is Louise. Save Her."
This is without a doubt one of film pioneer D.W. Griffith's most rich and beautiful silent films. It is truly grand, an epic which never lags, its stars and story holding the viewer's attention with both its beauty and drama.
Griffith took the 19th century play, "The Two Orphans," and made one of the finest films of the silent era. The story of excess and poverty which brought about the French Revolution is told through the moving story of a blind orphan girl and the "sister" who sacrifices all to care for her. It was sheer brilliance which made real sisters Lilian and Dorothy Gish the perfect choice for Louise and Henriette.
Lushly photographed, Griffith shows the ornate beauty of the aristocrats and how it contasted the tremendous poverty in the streets. Griffith's genius here, however, was that he showed it only as a backdrop to the deeply human story of Henriette (Lilian Gish) and her blind sister, Louise (Dorothy Gish), making for a fast moving and incredibly entertaining film, rather than some cerebral historical epic which looks great but can't hold your attention.
When the plague takes the lives of both their parents, Henriette vows to care for her blind sister Louise, abandoned on their doorstep as a baby. The two have grown up as sisters and it is that love which carries them through the storm which is about to rage in Paris. It is to Paris they travel in hopes of restoring Louise's sight. Henriette's beauty does not go unnoticed, however, and an aristocrat so unfeeling as to run over a poor young Parisian girl with his coach and show concern only for his horses has Henriette abducted, and the two siblings are separated.
There is one aristocrat with a heart, however, and young Chevalier (Joseph Schildkraut) falls deeply in love with her and offers her a bethrothel ring. Henriette loves the young man but has promised not to marry without her sister's approval. While Chevalier tries to find Louise, Henriette befriends the voice of the French common people, Danton (Monte Blue). She will hide him and find herself imprisoned, while Louise is at the mercy of street people. Louise is not without her protector either, however, even though it comes in the form of a cowardly street urchin named Pierre (Frank Puglia).
The shadow over Henriette's happiness deepens when the sisters are brought together yet torn apart once again by circumstance. Gish is freed during the revoulution but anarchy reigns, and she is sentenced to the guillotine with Chevalier, who has returned to Paris, facing death to find her. Only an impassioned plea from Danton, the voice of reason in the midst of chaos can save the two lovers, as Louise looks on. But a desperate ride to get to the guillotine may not come in time.
Both Lillian and Dorothy are wonderful here. Each have that dainty beauty which enabled them to play younger than they were. Those who doubt Lillian's physical appeal, however, will no longer do so after viewing this romantic historical epic. One scene in particular, as an umbrella clad Henriette braces the rain, evidence that a beautiful woman lurked just beneath her child-like beauty. She takes your breath away.
This is a dazzling spectacle, its mix of sentiment and heroics nearly unequaled in American cinema. A fantastic silent film which is as artistic as it is entertaining. A true American masterpiece.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 17
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