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Orphans of the StormRating:
Release Date: 10 December, 2002 Retail Price: $29.95 OUR Price: $26.99 You SAVE: $2.96! Cast: Complete Cast (12 total) |
Orphans of the Storm Reviews
Great for a silent movie
I haven't seen a great many silent movies, but this one seems much better than average. The production values are high and Lillian Gish looks hot. I like her better than Mary Picford. This movie interested me because I'm a francophile. The sets of old Paris were pretty good. I couldn't tell for sure if they were real or fake.
You'll shiver better without that shawl
ORPHANS OF THE STORM is a great movie, and this time I'm not going to deduct a point for print quality and its non-sequiter of a sound track.
Real sisters Lillian and Dorothy Gish star as half-sisters Henriette and Louise Girard. Louise (Dorothy) was found on the cold and snowy steps of the church Henriette's father had, before a change of heart, placed her. Their parents die, the girls grow into porcelain beauties and Louise loses her sight. Henriette vows to take care of Louise forever, and they travel to Paris in hopes of restoring Louise's sight.
En route a cruel aristocrat is inflamed with Henriette's "virginal beauty" and connives to kidnap her. Henriette is indeed kidnapped shortly after her arrival in Paris, and the helpless Louise is forced to fend for herself.
Half of the fun of ORPHANS OF THE STORM is watching the indignities DW Griffith subjects his two starlets to. Henriette is kidnapped by one of the slimier specimens of the over-fed and over-sexed aristocracy. Her desperate search for Louise is frustrated at every turn- when she finally spots Louise and attempts to reach her the police arrive and she is sent to a prison for fallen women. Oh, yeah, did I mention her delivery to "the foot of Death's gate?"
Louise has it no better. She is kidnapped by the monstrous Mother Frochard (Lucille La Verne). Mother Frochard, with her hair mole and moustache and missing teeth, may be the ugliest woman ever filmed. Mother F is a street beggar, and she plans to use the blind Louise as her main attraction. After she breaks Louise's spirit, that is. So, down into the rat-infested cellar with Louise and up comes the ladder. They're real rats down there. Griffith also throws a few cold days of beggary and an attempted rape in Louise's direction.
It's all great fun and the girls are indomitably strong and resourceful. The print quality is quite good in spots, simply awful in others. Most of the stock is sepia-toned, but some battle scenes seem to have been tinted red and there's a scene towards the end of the movie that seems to have been colorized. Because this isn't a restored print it's impossible to tell.
Having watched a handful of silent movies recently I'm beginning to wonder why they aren't rescored. Alpha Video puts a classical recording on the track of their releases and calls it good. It's not. These old films are works of art and national treasures, and they deserve better than this. Sound IS an important component to movies. Either restore the original music or have a contemporary composer write a brand new score. (Note: I watched the discount Alpha release of the film, and I didn't realize that Kino has a pricier print that includes the original music. I'm going out on a ledge here, but I'll bet the print quality is better, too. I'll be trading up to the Kino version in the near future.)
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