Lillian Gish’s final silent film was a great capstone on her silent film career. It was also one of
the last great silent films of the era, and in fact released on November 23rd, 1928, already more than a full year after sound had been introduced. In many people's eyes, The Wind is considered the last hurrah of the silent film era. It certainly was the last hurrah for the silent era’s
greatest actress. It was purported that Gish herself had the idea to make this
film and had pitched it to Irving Thalberg after reading the novel. In her
introduction to the home video release in the late 1980’s, she mentions having
put together a 4 page story of the film. It’s also purported that she
hand-picked the director…the fabulous Victor Sjostrom (Seastrom), he of The
Phantom Carriage (1921) and The Scarlet Letter (1926) (also with Gish). They would
collaborate to make one of silent film’s great masterpieces.
Based on a novel written by Dorothy Scarborough in 1925, The Wind stars Gish as Letty, a
woman from Virginia who is traveling cross country via train to come live with
her cousin Beverly and his family who live in west Texas. On the train,
she meets a man named Wirt Roddy, who begins to seduce her on the train. She
also sees that the country she is moving to is windy and sandy. VERY windy. And
VERY sandy. Once off the train, two men named Sourdough and Lige (Lars Hanson)
pick her up to take her to her cousin’s home. Once there, Beverly’s wife Cora (A fantastic Dorothy Cumming) soon begins to suspect that Letty is out to steal her
husband. She has her thrown out of the house. Letty is proposed to by both
Sourdough and Lige and accepts Lige’s proposal. She moves in with Lige,
struggles with her feelings and intentions toward him…..and most importantly
deals day-in and day-out with the never ending….never ceasing wind and sand
battering the house.
One of the interesting facets of the film is its sexual nature both from
the aspects of restraint and tension. Gish, normally known for playing meek,
rather pensive types, has all sorts of suitors in this film. From Sourdough and
Lige proposing to her to Wirt’s sexual predation, to the odd relationship with
her cousin Beverly. I’m not really sure whether we’re supposed to believe that
she and her cousin have a “a thing” going on, but Cora certainly seems to think
that something is in the works. When Letty accepts Lige’s proposal, we know
that Letty is desperate for a place to stay. It is quite surprising though, when
she refuses to consummate the marriage. Overt mentions of “women going crazy”
because of the constant wind, along with the Indian folklore that is mentioned regarding
the horses, (replete with imagery of a white horse running, hair blowing and
nostrils flared) and the uncontrollable wind evokes a kind of raw,
sexual tension. A fantastically composed sequence is when after Letty and Lige
are married and they are sitting at home in bed drinking coffee. Letty’s hair
is down. Lige is thinking one thing. He realizes Letty is apprehensive. He gets
up and leaves the room. She looks for a key to lock the door but can’t find one.
Letty stays in the bedroom pacing. Lige paces back and forth in the living
room. Shots of each of them pacing and pacing again are shown. Then we see a shot of the blowing wind and
sand outside. The tension is broken when Lige kicks a coffee mug and he bursts
back into bedroom to kiss her. Much of this sequence is actually shown from the
perspective of their feet. Another
scene in the film is so magnificent it deserves its own paragraph.
The most famous scene in the film, and one of the most iconic of the
silent era is the setpiece where Letty is caught alone in her house during the
night when the “Norther” storm hits. This sequence overlays shots of blowing
sand and wind outside... the swaying lamp from the ceiling causing shadows and
light to swing across the room... stampeding cattle running past the house... images of Gish crouched in fear, her eyes wild with fright.... holes being blown
in the window and side of the house... wind and sand creeping in everywhere... a loose board
banging on the door... Gish suddenly becoming crazed with insanity... the wind
knocking over a lamp causing a fire to start in the house... Gish becoming dizzy
and woozy... the entire house seeming to sway... a pounding at the door and a poor
decision... door opened to a rush of wind and sand and Gish knocked to the floor... Wirt entering the house and no one to stop him... Gish running outside into the
fray, unable to stand, unable to see... image of the bounding white horse... Gish thrust
back in the house fainting, carried into the bedroom by Wirt and imagery of a
bucking white horse conveying what is about to happen.
If any scene demanded screen shots, it would be that one. Criminally,
the film is out of print, unavailable on DVD, with some scattered availability
for a steep price on VHS through Amazon or ebay. I have not been able to track
down any information for why the film has not been made available by MGM. The
film needs a new print badly as the old one that I watched recently on TCM is
muted, murky and lacks contrast. Still it packs a wallop. It has some
remarkable cinematography by John Arnold and the imagery is fantastic. I think also of the
scene where after Letty shoots Wirt and buries him in the sand.
She goes back into her house and watching through the window, the wind begins to
erode the burial area, exposing Wirt beneath the sand with Gish’s wide eyes
telling us everything we need to know. Sjostrom did marvelous work here with
what is essentially a vehicle for Gish, though he was able to add lots of flourishes, bringing a more European
sensibility to this Hollywood film. He would never make another Hollywood film
after this one though, because of the tagged on happy-ending that the studio
made him add causing him to leave Hollywood for good. Gish’s final silent role,
was also her last great starring role. She would go on to have a long career of
supporting roles, but this was the last time she would command the screen in her prime.
