Way Down East is a 1920 American silent melodrama directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish as a young woman deceived into a sham marriage and cast out by rural New England society after bearing a child out of wedlock. The film is best remembered for its climactic rescue sequence, in which Gish's character is saved from drowning on a breaking ice floe heading toward a waterfall, filmed under genuinely hazardous winter conditions. Way Down East was one of the biggest box-office successes of its era and is widely regarded as a landmark of Griffith's melodramatic style and of technically ambitious silent-era location filmmaking.
Facts
Release Year Classification
Original Language FAQs
Was the ice floe rescue in Way Down East part of the original stage play?
No. The film was adapted from the play by Lottie Blair Parker, but the ice floe rescue was a scene that was not in the original. Film notes from the Toronto Film Society say it was the scene that really made the film, and that audiences remembered it long after the rest of the film was forgotten.
Connections
Created By
Source Way Down East (Wikipedia)
In Medium
Source Way Down East (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Original Language
Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.
Originated In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Sources
1. Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.Way Down East, lead paragraph (Wikipedia), original languageQuote, Way Down East, lead paragraph (Wikipedia), original language
Way Down East is a 1920 American silent melodrama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish.
Way Down East (Wikipedia)
In Medium: Film, Article lead sentence
Way Down East is a 1920 American silent melodrama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. It is one of four film adaptations of the 19th century play of the same name by Lottie Blair Parker. There were two earlier silent
Created By: D.W. Griffith, Article lead sentence
Way Down East is a 1920 American silent melodrama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish.
In Group: American Silent Dramas and Adventures, Lead
Way Down East is a 1920 American silent melodrama film directed by D.
View the SourceReader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.