Simply Perfect

Simply A Masterpiece

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Blistering performances.

(Flash Review)One thing I learned was that the "why did the chicken cross the road" joke is at least 96 years old as it was used in this film. Ha! On to more important points. The underlying theme of this film is to treat women well, marriage is important and sacred so don't cheat. The sprawling tale begins with a poor country girl who travels to the big city in hopes of improving their financial situation. A wealthy man, with a fondness for 'the ladies', becomes smitten with her and the only way he can 'have' her is to marry her. So he tricks her into a false marriage and she later has his child. Later that story point will be a crux that drives drama to the end. Really good acting, good pacing (dragged at times: 2:45 runtime) and a long but intricate and interesting story. I didn't know this til after but the ending is one of the most famous cinematic moments of the silent era. Not really a spoiler but there was a long rescue on REAL ice chunks actually flowing down a brisk river. No special effects, no stunt doubles. The actual actors were jumping on frozen ice sheets that were breaking away and heading down a rapids! Occasionally falling in and getting back out. The man actually carried a woman while hopping like a frog from ice sheet to ice sheet. It was very tense because it was real. Amazing and thrilling.

The film is overly long by at least a half hour, maybe even an hour. It drags. There are scenes with little or no merit. Subplots that distract the viewer.However, Gish's acting is superb. Her expressions carry us through the story. She provides us with the necessary character to hook onto and feel sympathy for. And, to be clear, Anna is a very interesting character.Charlotte Blair Parker's story, while I may disagree at times with the treatment, is fantastic. She weaves together a number of elements with some skill.Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the, what appears to me to be, rather dangerous stunt work performed by the leads.Will it drag? Yes. But stick with it regardless for the good parts.

An old stage melodrama, written by Lottie Blair Parker and first performed around 1895, the story was old fashioned even in 1920. D. W. Griffith paid $175,000 for the film rights and a lot of people thought he was mad. As a film for his "muse", Lillian Gish, Griffith knew exactly what he was doing. He made the story seem so fresh and new and the "last minute rescue" on the ice wasn't found in the original play at all."A Simple Story of Plain People" was set in New England and Lillian Gish plays Anna Moore - the first scene she plays only with her expressive eyes and they show her every thought. It was truly wonderful acting. Anna is going to stay at her cousins, the Tremonts, in the hope that they will help her mother financially.She is allowed to dress for the Tremonts ball, although not invited to attend. An eccentric aunt (Florence Short) has other ideas and with a more alluring dress makes Anna the belle of the ball. Anna makes the acquaintance of Lennox Sanderson ( a very dapper Lowell Sherman), a wealthy womanizer, who determines to seduce Anna. He persuades her to agree to a secret marriage performed by a friend that he has paid, to impersonate a clergyman. Lillian Gish is so poignant and moving as Anna - at first so wide eyed and fluttering as an innocent country girl, then as the grieving young mother forced to baptise her own baby before it dies, she gives an spellbinding performance!!!She is forced to leave the lodgings because of gossip and the scene where she is trudging up the road, alone and forlorn, leaves a lump in your throat. She finds work at Squire Bartlett's (Burr McIntosh) residence, where she meets David (Richard Barthelmess). It seems Sanderson lives nearby and warns her to leave. David sees that she is upset and begs her to stay. She soon becomes a beloved member of the family, although the stern puritans know nothing of her past.The land lady from the lodging house visits the local sewing circle group, sees Anna passing and then tells all she knows about her which is quickly passed on to the Squire. He promptly turns Anna out into a raging snow storm and what a storm it was!!! The ice scene looked so real because it was. Clarine Seymour, originally given the role Mary Hay inherited, supposedly died from exposure to the almost artic conditions of the location. Lillian Gish recalls suggesting letting her arm and hair fall over the ice floe for dramatic effect and three weeks later she claimed her arm still felt like an icicle.It didn't originally receive praise from everyone - Alexander Woollcott from "The Screen" seemed to think the ice was papier mache and Robert Benchley from "Life" gave a slightly satirical review. They were both from 1920.I gave it 9 out of 10. I also agree it was slightly too long and there was a bit too much "unfunny" humour as well.Highly Recommended.

WAY DOWN EAST was an old-fashioned melodrama even in 1920 when D.W. Griffith decided to film it. It's the kind of story that leaves itself open for spoofing, but Griffith approaches the story of a "mock marriage" and its aftermath with earnestness and a great eye for detail.Aiding Griffith in bringing this story to life are three great stars: Lillian Gish as Anna, Richard Barthelmess as David, and Lowell Sherman as caddish Lennox. The supporting cast includes New England "types" that almost parody Dickens. Kate Bruce is the staunch mother, Creighton Hale the ditzy professor, Vivia Ogden the town gossip, Burr McIntosh the intolerant squire, Emily Fitzroy runs the hotel, etc.The story of love, betrayal, tolerance, and redemption is slow moving and has (as usual in a Griffith film) subplots, but like the very river, all the actions and events slowly come together for the finale that left 1920 audiences in a frenzy. Indeed the ending is among the most famous in all silent films.Gish is quite beautiful here. In her opening scene she is in her parlor with her mother making a broom, holding up the straw so that we see only her white cap and large expressive eyes. She's stunning. As Anna she goes through the gamut of shy maiden, young lover, wronged woman, timid servant, and town jezebel. Barthelmess is solid as the young and innocent David who falls in love with the servant girl.Their final scenes in the blizzard (filmed on Long Island in a real storm) on the icy river (filmed in White River Junction, VT) are totally amazing. And they did not use stunt doubles. As Gish lies exhausted on the piece of ice she may or may not know that it's heading for the falls. There are scenes were her hand and hair trail in the icy river. Just amazing. Barthelmess uses the breaking ice as a trail so that he can reach Gish before it's too late. There are several shots where he falls off the ice or the ice breaks under him and he plunges into that wintry river. The entire sequence is as thrilling today as it was in 1920.Gish once wrote that her long hair froze solid from being in the river water and snapped off with the ice.WAY DOWN EAST is a great film.