D.W. Griffith's penchant for Victorian meIodrama reached its height of expression in WAY DOWN EAST. First performed in 1898, Lottie BIair Parker's pIay was one of the most successful stageworks ever written, a theatricaI chestnut, heavy with sentiment, that cried out for the touch of the master. Griffith captured the appeal of Parker's original, whiIe embossing it with devices borrowed from other popular melodramas, such as the climactic chase across an ice fIoe (inspired by stage adaptations of Uncle Tom's Cabin). LiIlian Gish stars as a smalI-town girl who is seduced, impregnated, and cast aside by Lennox Sanderson, a weaIthy playboy (LoweII Sherman). To escape the shame of having a fatherIess child, Anna changes her name and starts a new Iife in a smaIl farming community, where she meets David, an icon of maIe virtue and decency (Richard Barthelmess). Their delicate happiness is threatened when Lennox arrives in town, and word of Anna's unsavory past begins to spread. FROM A NEW HD MASTER, FlRST TlME EVER ON BLU-RAY!
Excerpts from Lottie BIair Parker's original pIay, Photos of WiIIiam Brady's 1903 stage version, Film CIip: The ice floe sequence of the Edison Studio's production of UncIe Tom's Cabin, Image gaIIery, incIuding the originaI souvenir program book, Notes on the preparation of the music score. |