1921·Drama·2h 30m
7.0
★
France, on the eve of the French Revolution. Henriette and Louise have been raised together as sisters. When the plague that takes their parents' lives causes Louise's blindness, they decide to travel to Paris in search of a cure, but they separate when a lustful aristocrat crosses their path.
Directed by D.W. Griffith
paris, france
french revolution
based on play or musical
remake
female protagonist
silent film
18th century
blindness
aristocracy
sister sister relationship
french history
IMDB
N/A
Where to Watch
Cast
Lillian Gish
Henriette Girard
Dorothy Gish
Louise Girard
Joseph Schildkraut
Chevalier de Vaudrey
Creighton Hale
Picard
Monte Blue
Danton
Sidney Herbert
Robespierre
Lucille La Verne
Mother Frochard
Sheldon Lewis
Jacques Frochard
Frank Puglia
Pierre
Morgan Wallace
Marquis de Praille
Frank Losee
Count de Linieres
Leslie King
Jacques-Forget-Not
Crew
D.W. Griffith
Director
D.W. Griffith
Screenplay
Billy Bitzer
Director of Photography
D.W. Griffith
Producer
Popular Reviews
14 reviews
Erik Olsson
7.0★ · 09/21/23
Per apparent usual for Griffith:
1. Lillian Gish is by far the best aspect of the movie.
2. Most of the movie feels like build-up, albeit interesting build-up but it still feels slow.
3. The last 30 minutes of cross-cutting climaxes almost makes the rest of the movie feel somewhat worth it. Just not when it's the Klan "saving the day". (Jesus Christ, that fucking movie...)
Again, fairly impressive for the time. It's easy to be invested in the main characters, you just have to power through the slow pace so you can get to the very well-done ending. I sincerely hope this gets a good HD restoration someday because this old Kino DVD was decent at best.
1. Lillian Gish is by far the best aspect of the movie.
2. Most of the movie feels like build-up, albeit interesting build-up but it still feels slow.
3. The last 30 minutes of cross-cutting climaxes almost makes the rest of the movie feel somewhat worth it. Just not when it's the Klan "saving the day". (Jesus Christ, that fucking movie...)
Again, fairly impressive for the time. It's easy to be invested in the main characters, you just have to power through the slow pace so you can get to the very well-done ending. I sincerely hope this gets a good HD restoration someday because this old Kino DVD was decent at best.
Per apparent usual for Griffith:
1. Lillian Gish is by far the best aspect of the movie.
2. Most of the movie feels like build-up, albeit interesting build-up but it still feels slow.
3. The last 30 minutes of cross-cutting climaxes almost makes the rest of the movie feel somewhat worth it. Just not when it's the Klan "saving the day". (Jesus Christ, that fucking movie...)
Again, fairly impressive for the time. It's easy to be invested in the main characters, you just have to power through the slow pace so you can get to the very well-done ending. I sincerely hope this gets a good HD restoration someday because this old Kino DVD was decent at best.
1. Lillian Gish is by far the best aspect of the movie.
2. Most of the movie feels like build-up, albeit interesting build-up but it still feels slow.
3. The last 30 minutes of cross-cutting climaxes almost makes the rest of the movie feel somewhat worth it. Just not when it's the Klan "saving the day". (Jesus Christ, that fucking movie...)
Again, fairly impressive for the time. It's easy to be invested in the main characters, you just have to power through the slow pace so you can get to the very well-done ending. I sincerely hope this gets a good HD restoration someday because this old Kino DVD was decent at best.
Eric Hardman
6.3★ · 08/23/23
Out of all the DW Griffith YouTube apology videos, this is definitely my second favorite behind Intolerance. Structurally and thematically it’s very similar to Way Down East, but it’s far better executed. This is the only other film of his besides Intolerance that seems more focused on the heart of the story as opposed to the spectacle. Towards the latter bit of the second half, a lot of the heart is drained for that exact spectacle, but prior to that this does a lot right.
Out of all the DW Griffith YouTube apology videos, this is definitely my second favorite behind Intolerance. Structurally and thematically it’s very similar to Way Down East, but it’s far better executed. This is the only other film of his besides Intolerance that seems more focused on the heart of the story as opposed to the spectacle. Towards the latter bit of the second half, a lot of the heart is drained for that exact spectacle, but prior to that this does a lot right.
Mickey R
7.0★ · 09/08/22
Crowd work!!
Crowd work!!
Evan
4.4★ · 05/20/21
1001 Movies Ranked
So maybe waking up and doing a two and a half hour silent film at 7am wasn’t my best idea, but at least I am free from D.W. Griffith films because wow am I ready to be done. This movie wasn’t necessarily bad, it was just long and boring and never kept me hooked. I did however get a lot of stuff done during the time this was playing including eating, working out, doing some criminology homework, playing with my dog, and buying a ticket for Dream Horse tonight as the only one in the theater.
Should I even count this as watched? Probably not, especially since I wanted to go through this book and try to make a somewhat decent review for everything. That being said, I’m not going back to rewatch this.
So maybe waking up and doing a two and a half hour silent film at 7am wasn’t my best idea, but at least I am free from D.W. Griffith films because wow am I ready to be done. This movie wasn’t necessarily bad, it was just long and boring and never kept me hooked. I did however get a lot of stuff done during the time this was playing including eating, working out, doing some criminology homework, playing with my dog, and buying a ticket for Dream Horse tonight as the only one in the theater.
Should I even count this as watched? Probably not, especially since I wanted to go through this book and try to make a somewhat decent review for everything. That being said, I’m not going back to rewatch this.
1001 Movies Ranked
So maybe waking up and doing a two and a half hour silent film at 7am wasn’t my best idea, but at least I am free from D.W. Griffith films because wow am I ready to be done. This movie wasn’t necessarily bad, it was just long and boring and never kept me hooked. I did however get a lot of stuff done during the time this was playing including eating, working out, doing some criminology homework, playing with my dog, and buying a ticket for Dream Horse tonight as the only one in the theater.
Should I even count this as watched? Probably not, especially since I wanted to go through this book and try to make a somewhat decent review for everything. That being said, I’m not going back to rewatch this.
So maybe waking up and doing a two and a half hour silent film at 7am wasn’t my best idea, but at least I am free from D.W. Griffith films because wow am I ready to be done. This movie wasn’t necessarily bad, it was just long and boring and never kept me hooked. I did however get a lot of stuff done during the time this was playing including eating, working out, doing some criminology homework, playing with my dog, and buying a ticket for Dream Horse tonight as the only one in the theater.
Should I even count this as watched? Probably not, especially since I wanted to go through this book and try to make a somewhat decent review for everything. That being said, I’m not going back to rewatch this.
Amanda
6.0★ · 06/15/26