Way Down East (1920), a silent film directed by D.W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish, is the best known of four film adaptations of the melodramatic 19th century play Way Down East, written by Lottie Blair Parker. There were two earlier silent versions, and one sound version in 1935, starring Henry Fonda. Griffith's version is particularly remembered for its exciting climax in which Lillian Gish's character is rescued from doom on an icy river...
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Way Down East (1920), a silent film directed by D.W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish, is the best known of four film adaptations of the melodramatic 19th century play Way Down East, written by Lottie Blair Parker. There were two earlier silent versions, and one sound version in 1935, starring Henry Fonda. Griffith's version is particularly remembered for its exciting climax in which Lillian Gish's character is rescued from doom on an icy river.
The rich, typified by the handsome man-about-town Lennox (Lowell Sherman), are exceptionally selfish and think only of their own pleasure.
Anna (Lillian Gish) is a poor country girl whom Lennox tricks into a fake wedding. When she becomes pregnant, he leaves her. She has the baby, named Trust Lennox, on her own.
When the baby dies she wanders until she gets a job with Squire Bartlett (Burr McIntosh). David (Richard Barthelmess), Squire Bartlett's son, falls for her, but she rejects him due to her past. Then Lennox shows up lusting for...
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