THE WIND (1928)

Classic film from the late silent period. Lillian Gish is a young woman who has come to the barren wastes of Texas from Virginia to live with her cousin (Edward Earle) and his jealous wife (Dorothy Cumming). The land is constantly scoured by hot winds and making a go of it there is tough for anyone--the families of the small settlement are sometimes reduced to eating horse guts. The rather soft and vulnerable Gish, who is a bit high strung and is often unnerved by the sound of the wind, is a hit with Earle and his kids, so the wife forces Gish to take a rough and tumble cowboy (Lars Hanson) up on his proposal of marriage to get her out of the house. Actually, a slimy salesman (Montague Love) whom Gish met on the train also wants her, and Gish considers this option, but when she finds out that Love is married and only wants her as his mistress, she decides to marry Hanson. All the evidence we see suggests it's a sexless marriage of convenience for both of them (she gets a place to stay, he gets a housekeeper). During a particularly nasty cyclone, Love is found unconscious out in the elements and Hanson brings him to his house to recover; while the rest of the men go back out in the storm, Love rapes Gish and the next morning, she shoots him dead and throws his body outside. Hanson returns just as Gish seems to have completely lost her senses; he is able to comfort her and we are left to believe that Gish has at last adjusted to her surroundings and the two will live happily ever after.

The constant wind is a plus, though it is so very constant that I had a hard time believing that anyone in his or her right mind would actually choose to remain living in such a place; I know that it serves a somewhat symbolic purpose, and a case could be made that our over-the-top experience of the wind is a mirror of how Gish sees it, not necessarily how the rest of the characters do, but still, my willing suspension of disbelief was stretched a bit. Most of the actors are good--the florid silent style of acting is pretty much absent from this movie, except for some figurative mustache-twirling from villain Love. Though she's overshadowed by Gish and Hanson, Cumming is very good, giving the most "modern" performance in the movie. Apparently, the original ending had Gish, after killing Love, going mad and wandering in the storm to her certain death. I'd like to see that ending, but I still think that the current happy ending works just fine. The scenes of the wind and sand beginning to break the house apart are well done, as is a creepy scene of Love's body getting buried, by nature itself if you will, by the wind and sand. Overall, not quite as great a film as its reputation suggests, largely because of some plotholes attributable to a lack of backstory--Gish and Hanson's characters could use some fleshing-out--but certainly worth watching. [TCM]