Orphans of the Storm (1921)

Directed by

D. W. Griffith

Genre

drama film, silent film

Country

United States

Runtime

2h 30m

Rated

NR

Rating

6.8 of 10 from 104 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A story set in France before and during the French Revolution about two orphaned sisters who become separated. One sister is a blind aristocrat while the other searches for her through the violence of the revolution.

melodramatichistoricalstagedsentimentaldarkurgentmoralistic

What happens

Orphans of the Storm is a 1921 American silent melodrama film directed by D. W. Griffith and set in late-18th-century France, before and during the French Revolution. The last Griffith film to feature both Lillian and Dorothy Gish, it was a commercial failure compared to his earlier works, such as The Birth of a Nation (1915), Broken Blossoms (1919) and Way Down East (1920). Griffith used historical events to comment on contemporary events, in this case the French Revolution to warn about the rise of Bolshevism. The film is about class conflict and a polemic for "inter-class understanding" and against "destructive hatred". At one point, in front of the Committee of Public Safety, a main character pleads, "Yes I am an aristocrat, but a friend of the people." The film is based on the 1874 French play Les Deux Orphelines by Adolphe d'Ennery and Eugène Cormon. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• The Two Girls (1921)
• The Two Orphans (1915)
• The Foolish Matrons (1921)
• Greater Than Love (1921)
• Fromont jeune et Risler aîné (1921)
• Hail the Woman (1921)
• Behind Masks (1921)
• The Woman God Changed (1921)