Silver Screen Magic with Lillian Gish

Director D.W. Griffith directed the 1915 film “Birth of a Nation.” The film starred Lilian Gish, Mae Marsh, and Henry B. Walthall. This is an American silent epic drama. The screenplay was adapted from the 1905 novel and play “The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan” by Thomas Dixon Jr.

The plot of the film is part fiction and part history, chronicling the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth and the relationship of two families during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras – the pro-Union Stonemans and the pro-Confederacy Camerons.

This was the first motion picture to be screened in the White House, watched by President Woodrow Wilson.

Director D.W. Griffith directed the 1919 film “Broken Blossoms,” starring Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, and Donald Crisp. It was also referred to as The Yellow Man and the Girl, a silent melodrama distributed by United Artists. The film is based on the short story “The Chink and the Child” by Thomas Burke, from the 1916 collection “Limehouse Nights.”

The plot is about a young girl, Lucy Burrows (Lillian Gish), who is abused by her alcoholic prizefighting father, Battline Burrows (Donald Crisp). She meets Cheng Huan (Richard Barthelmess), a kind-hearted Chinese man who falls in love with her.

Director D.W. Griffith directed the 1916 film “Intolerance,” based on four historical tales depicting the ongoing human struggle against prejudice and inhumanity. The film starred Lillian Gish, Robert Harron, and Mae Marsh.

This American silent film anthology is subtitled Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages and A Sung-Play of the Ages. It is a three-and-a-half hour epic with four parallel storylines—a contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption The American Modern Story, a Biblical story The Biblical “Judean” Story, a French story about the events surrounding the St. Bartholomew Day massacre of 1572, and a Babylonian story, the fall of the Babylonian Empire to Persia in 539 BC.

The scenes are linked by shots of a figure representing Eternal Motherhood (Lillian Gish) rocking a cradle.

Director Charles Laughton directed the 1955 film “Night of the Hunter.” It starred Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, and Lillian Gish. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Davis Grubb. Both the novel and the film are based on the true story of Harry Powers, hanged in 1932 for murdering two widows and three children in Clarksburg, West Virginia.

The film takes place during the Great Depression. Preacher Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), a serial killer, poses as a preacher and pursues two children, John Harper (Billy Chapin) and Pearl Harper (Sally Jane Bruce) to find out where their late father hid $10,000. Having been released from prison, Powell goes to Harper’s hometown and woos Harper's widow, Willa (Shelley Winters), a waitress for Walter Spoon. He later kills the widow and begins to journey, pursuing the children. The children find shelter with Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish), a tough woman who looks after stray children.

Directed by William Dieterle, the 1948 film “Portrait of Jennie” is an American supernatural film. It stars Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotton, Ethel Barrymore, and Lillian Gish. The film is based on the 1940 novella of the same name by Robert Nathan.

The plot follows an impoverished New York City painter, Eben Adams (Joseph Cotton), whose chance encounter with an old-fashioned young woman, Jennie Appleton (Jennifer Jones), in Central Park changes the course of his life. Lillian Gish portrays Mother Mary of the St. Mercy Convent, where young Jennie had lived since her parents' deaths.

The 1928 film “The Wind” was directed by Victor Sjostrom. It starred Lilian Gish, Lars Hanson, Edward Earl, and Montague Love. This was an American synchronized sound romantic drama adapted from the 1925 novel of the same name by Dorothy Scarborough. This is considered to be one of the greatest “silent” films released by MGM.

An impoverished young woman named Letty Mason (Lillian Gish) travels west by train from Virginia to live at her cousin Beverly's (Edward Earl) isolated ranch in Sweetwater, Texas. On the way, she is bothered by the constantly blowing wind. Fellow passenger and cattle buyer, Wirt Roddy (Montague Love), makes her acquaintance and tells her the wind usually drives women crazy.