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Way Down East (1920)
American silent romantic drama.
A naive country girl is tricked into a sham marriage by a wealthy womanizer, then must rebuild her life despite the taint of having borne a child out of wedlock.
When this film was released in 1920 in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania censorship board made over sixty cuts to the film before its release including the scenes of Gish’s mock marriage, the honeymoon, maternity, and childbirth. “Imagine the surprise of Pennsylvania fans,” wrote Photoplay in 1920, “when the baby, utterly unexplained, burst upon the scene just before its death.”
The scenes on the ice floes were not only very dangerous to film, but for Lillian Gish, they had lasting ill effects. Until the day she died, her right hand was somewhat impaired due to the extended filming where her hand was in the icy water.
Lillian Gish stated years later that in the climactic river scene, her hair froze and broke off after trailing in the icy water, and her hand (which also trailed in the water) ached for the rest of her life.
Way Down East was the top-grossing film of 1920.
| Directed by | D. W. Griffith |
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| Based on | Way Down East by Lottie Blair Parker |
| Produced by | D. W. Griffith (uncredited) |
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| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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145 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
| Budget | $700,000 |
| Box office | $4,500,000 |
