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| Photos (see all 14 | slideshow) | Videos (see all 2) |
| Lillian Gish | ... | Henriette Girard | |
| Dorothy Gish | ... | Louise Girard | |
| Joseph Schildkraut | ... | Chevalier de Vaudrey | |
| Frank Losee | ... | Count de Linieres | |
| Katherine Emmet | ... | Countess de Linieres | |
| Morgan Wallace | ... | Marquis de Praille | |
| Lucille La Verne | ... | Mother Frochard | |
| Sheldon Lewis | ... | Jacques Frochard | |
| Frank Puglia | ... | Pierre Frochard | |
| Creighton Hale | ... | Picard | |
| Leslie King | ... | Jacques-Forget-Not | |
| Monte Blue | ... | Danton | |
| Sidney Herbert | ... | Robespierre | |
| Lee Kohlmar | ... | King Louis XVI | |
| Marcia Harris | ... | Henriette's landlady | |
| Adolph Lestina | ... | Doctor | |
| Kate Bruce | ... | Sister Genevieve | |
| Flora Finch | ... | Starving peasant | |
| Louis Wolheim | ... | Executioner | |
| Kenny Delmar | ... | The Chevalier, as a boy | |
| James Smith | ... | Dancer | |
| Herbert Sutch | ... | Meat carver at fete | |
| Rose Smith | ... | Dancer | |
| rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| Nellie Battipaglia | ... | (uncredited) | |
| Ruth Cleaver | ... | (uncredited) | |
| Tove Danor | ... | (uncredited) | |
| Dorothy McConnell | ... | (uncredited) | |
| Frank O'Connor | ... | Party guest (uncredited) | |
| William J. Walsh | ... | (uncredited) | |
Directed by | |||
| D.W. Griffith | |||
Writing credits | ||
| Adolphe d'Ennery | (novel "Les deux orphelines") & | |
| Eugène Cormon | (novel "Les deux orphelines") | |
| D.W. Griffith | writer (as Gaston de Tolignac) | |
Produced by | |||
| D.W. Griffith | .... | producer | |
Original Music by | |||
| Brian Benison | (1996) | ||
| Louis F. Gottschalk | |||
| John Lanchbery | |||
| William Frederick Peters | (as William F. Peters) | ||
Cinematography by | |||
| Paul H. Allen | |||
| G.W. Bitzer | |||
| Hendrik Sartov | |||
Film Editing by | |||
| James Smith | |||
| Rose Smith | |||
Art Direction by | |||
| Charles M. Kirk | |||
Costume Design by | |||
| Herman Patrick Tappe | (uncredited) | ||
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director | |||
| Herbert Sutch | .... | assistant director | |
Art Department | |||
| Charles E. Boss | .... | stand-by painter | |
| Edward Scholl | .... | set designer | |
| Frank Wortman | .... | set builder | |
| Joe Dibuono | .... | carpenter (uncredited) | |
Special Effects by | |||
| Edward Scholl | .... | special effects | |
Camera and Electrical Department | |||
| Paul H. Allen | .... | assistant camera | |
Editorial Department | |||
| Margaret Booth | .... | cutter | |
Other crew | |||
| Anatole Danashaw | .... | laboratory supervisor | |
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| L'anglaise et le duc | The Phantom of the Opera | Danton | Anastasia | The Man in the Iron Mask |
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| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| IMDb Drama section | IMDb USA section | Add this title to MyMovies |
Two ORPHANS OF THE STORM caused by the French Revolution desperately search for each other in the violent chaos of Paris.
History's sweeping drama comes alive in this powerful epic film from legendary silent movie genius D. W. Griffith. Although much happens on a broad canvas, the director never loses sight of the intimate details of the heroines' pitiful plight. In denouncing tyranny, Griffith always manages to keep the viewer engrossed in how the State's insidious evil affects the individual.
Much of the film's success is due to the remarkable acting of the Gish Sisters, Lillian & Dorothy. Acclaimed for her comedic talents, Dorothy here gives an almost completely serious performance, portraying a blind girl cruelly separated from her beloved sister and forced to beg in the streets. Lillian, her classic face mirroring a myriad of emotions, plays the sibling persecuted by both lecherous aristocrats and rapacious revolutionaries. The scene in which Lillian, in an upper chamber, hears Dorothy singing in the alley below but is unable to reach her, is almost unbearable in its emotional intensity.
A young Joseph Schildkraut plays Lillian's blue-blooded suitor, giving the viewer an intimation of the very fine character actor he would become with the advent of talking pictures. Lucille LaVerne steals more than a few scenes as the filthy harridan who enslaves and terrorizes Dorothy. Frank Puglia makes a poignant mark as Miss LaVerne's pathetic, downtrodden son. Comic actor Creighton Hale gives a lively performance in a small role as a mischievous, periwiged servant.
A fascinating aspect of the film is its vivid rendering of two historical characters of great significance in the history of France. Georges Danton was probably not as noble as he is portrayed by Monte Blue, nor was Maximilien Robespierre necessarily as evil as Sidney Herbert depicts him. What is certain is that both men were responsible for the deaths of thousands of individuals during the Reign of Terror. Fittingly, each man had his own rendezvous with Madame Le Guillotine in 1794.
Movie mavens will recognize an unbilled Louis Wolheim as the executioner awaiting Miss Lillian on the scaffold.
Griffith handles the sequences involving surging masses of extras with admirable dexterity. He also freely borrows a few plot elements from Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. In fact Miss LaVerne, with scarcely a costume change, would play the role of The Vengeance in MGM's 1935 version of that classic, violent novel.