Orphans of the Storm

Orphans of the Storm (1921) is a film by D.W. Griffith set in late 18th century France, before and during the French Revolution.

This was the last Griffith film to feature Lillian and Dorothy Gish, and is often considered Griffiths last major commercial success, after box office hits such as Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, and Broken Blossoms.

Like his earlier films, this used historical events to comment on contemporary events, in this case the French Revolution and the rise of Bolshevism. The film is about class conflict and a plea for inter class understanding and against destructive hatred. At one point in front of the Committee of Public Safety a main character pleas, "Yes I am an aristocrat, but a friend of the people."

The film is a remake of the lost Theda Bara film The Two Orphans (1915.)

Henriette and Louise, a foundling, are raised together as sisters. When Louise goes blind, Henriette swears to take care of her forever. They go to Paris to see if Louises blindness can be cured, but are separated when an aristocrat lusts after Henriette and abducts her. Only Chevalier de Vaudrey is kind to her, and they fall in love. The French Revolution replaces the corrupt Aristocracy with the equally corrupt Robespierre. De Vaudrey, who has always been good to peasants, is condemned to death for being an aristocrat......

Lillian Gish as Henriette Girard
Dorothy Gish as Louise
Joseph Schildkraut as Chevalier de Vaudrey
Frank Losee as Count de Linières
Catherine Emmet as Countess de Linières
Morgan Wallace as Marquis de Praille
Lucille La Verne as Mother Frochard
Frank Puglia as Pierre Frochard
Sheldon Lewis as Jacques Frochard
Creighton Hale as Picard
Leslie King as Jacques-Forget-Not
Monte Blue as Danton
Sidney Herbert as Robespierre
Lee Kohlmar as Louis XVI
Louis Wolheim as Executioner