How Long Is “Way Down East”?

It was not until great directors of the silent era like D. W. Griffith began exploring the medium of film that its possibilities as an art form began to be taken seriously. New York's Museum of Modern Art obtained a set of prints of Griffith's classic 1920 movie Way Down East and restored them, helped along by the rediscovery of the film's original musical score by Louis Silvers and William F. Peters. Major films of the silent era like this one not only had piano scores, but in bigger cities were shown to the accompaniment of a full orchestra. This version restores many secondary scenes which were cut by Griffith himself after the film's initial release in a frantic attempt to seem relevant and "modern." Only a few important scenes (indicated with still photos and title cards) were lost to the ravages of time. The story of the film concerns an innocent New England country girl (Lillian Gish), seduced by a smooth-talking city man who, after he has had his way with her, abandons her to her fate. Desperate, she attempts to return to her Puritanical farming family, but is rejected. This film contains the famous scene in which Gish nearly lost her life as she leapt across an ice floe. The day of the stunt-man had yet to occur, and the genuinely perilous stunts were performed by the stars themselves. Although cinema scholars have praised this restored version, Gish herself was critical of the inclusion of previously cut scenes.