One of the last major Hollywood studio silent movies released was November 1928 "The Wind." Silent films dribbled through the major studios' supply chain for at least another year, where they were shown especially in Europe and in smaller, American rural towns whose theaters weren't wired for sound yet. Yet MGM's "The Wind" today is wrapped around a bit of nostalgia for an era that was quietly ending. Film historians label the film as the last great silent Hollywood movie. It was director Victor Sjostrom's as well as legendary actress Lillian Gish's final silent.
When Gish signed with MGM in 1925, she negotiated in her contract she would receive a lesser salary in lieu of greater control in her productions. That meant she could select and spend more on the scriptwriters, directors and actors working alongside her. Gish was a very comfortable with her on-set relationship with Sjostrom, the Swedish director who had been enticed to come to America in the mid-1920s. Lillian selected Dorothy Scarborough's 1925 book "The Wind," a rather racy-themed story filled with innuendo that MGM head producer Irving Thalberg approved. But the studio decided to hold back the film, completed in 1927, because of its implied rape scene. It decided to release the movie at the cusp when everyone was anticipating "talkies."
The critics hailed the artistic merits of "The Wind." The Guardian in a 1999 review praised the movie stated, "In America Sjostrom's three most famous works, 1924's "He Who Gets Slapped," 1926's "The Scarlet Letter" and 1928's "The Wind," each dealt with human suffering. The Wind is almost certainly the best." In screening the film, the Museum of Modern Art said, "What makes The Wind such an eloquent coda to its dying medium is Sjostrom's and Gish's distillation of their art forms to the simplest, most elemental form: there are no frills."
"The Wind" focuses on Letty Mason (Gish), traveling to Texas to live with her cousin's family. She meets on the train Wirt Roddy (Montagu Love), who takes an interest in her. She gets picked up by two of her cousin's neighbors living 15 miles from him, Lige Hightower (Lars Hanson) and old, crusty Sourdough (William Orlamond). Everyone falls for Letty, and there's tension throughout as even Cora (Dorothy Cumming), the cousin's wife, is super jealous of her staying under the same roof.
One of the most famous scenes in all silent movies unfolds as Letty is left alone in the cousin's house with the wind blowing like no tomorrow. Everything rattles, loose floorboards are banging, it's absolutely pandemonium before lustful Wirt, who is married, visits the house. A vision of a white horse is seen outside, symbolizing what is taking place inside as she tries to thwart his advancements.
Gish claimed the production was the most difficult she appeared in during her long acting career. Filmed in the Mojave Desert under searing hot 100-plus degree temperatures, the wind, generated by eight stationary aircraft stirring up the air with their propellers, forced the film crew to wear long-sleeved shirts, eye googles and greasepaint on their faces to protect their skin from the piercing sand and smoke. The locale was so scorchingly hot that Gish claims she scalded her palm on a handle outside the cabin when she opened the door. The wind is howling constantly throughout the movie. Scarborough's novel was set in Sweetwater, Texas, where heavy breezes consistently blow in this town smack-dab in the middle of the state. In fact, the area is known as the "Wind Turbine Capital of Texas," hosting one of the largest wind farms in Texas and is at the nexus of the leading wind power generation region in the Western Hemisphere.
When Thalberg gave the movie the green light to be released a year after "The Jazz Singer's" 1927 premier, he described "The Wind" to Lillian as a very artistic film. She took his description as a "veiled punch," knowing any silent 'artistic' film wasn't going to perform well at the box office. The MGM producer's prediction was correct. It lost $87,000, mainly because viewers were flocking to the talkies just released at the same time. However, since then, the American Film Institute recognizes its importance, receiving nominations in both the Top 100 Most Heart-Pounding Movies and the Top 100 Greatest American Movies.
When Gish signed with MGM in 1925, she negotiated in her contract she would receive a lesser salary in lieu of greater control in her productions. That meant she could select and spend more on the scriptwriters, directors and actors working alongside her. Gish was a very comfortable with her on-set relationship with Sjostrom, the Swedish director who had been enticed to come to America in the mid-1920s. Lillian selected Dorothy Scarborough's 1925 book "The Wind," a rather racy-themed story filled with innuendo that MGM head producer Irving Thalberg approved. But the studio decided to hold back the film, completed in 1927, because of its implied rape scene. It decided to release the movie at the cusp when everyone was anticipating "talkies."
The critics hailed the artistic merits of "The Wind." The Guardian in a 1999 review praised the movie stated, "In America Sjostrom's three most famous works, 1924's "He Who Gets Slapped," 1926's "The Scarlet Letter" and 1928's "The Wind," each dealt with human suffering. The Wind is almost certainly the best." In screening the film, the Museum of Modern Art said, "What makes The Wind such an eloquent coda to its dying medium is Sjostrom's and Gish's distillation of their art forms to the simplest, most elemental form: there are no frills."
"The Wind" focuses on Letty Mason (Gish), traveling to Texas to live with her cousin's family. She meets on the train Wirt Roddy (Montagu Love), who takes an interest in her. She gets picked up by two of her cousin's neighbors living 15 miles from him, Lige Hightower (Lars Hanson) and old, crusty Sourdough (William Orlamond). Everyone falls for Letty, and there's tension throughout as even Cora (Dorothy Cumming), the cousin's wife, is super jealous of her staying under the same roof.
One of the most famous scenes in all silent movies unfolds as Letty is left alone in the cousin's house with the wind blowing like no tomorrow. Everything rattles, loose floorboards are banging, it's absolutely pandemonium before lustful Wirt, who is married, visits the house. A vision of a white horse is seen outside, symbolizing what is taking place inside as she tries to thwart his advancements.
Gish claimed the production was the most difficult she appeared in during her long acting career. Filmed in the Mojave Desert under searing hot 100-plus degree temperatures, the wind, generated by eight stationary aircraft stirring up the air with their propellers, forced the film crew to wear long-sleeved shirts, eye googles and greasepaint on their faces to protect their skin from the piercing sand and smoke. The locale was so scorchingly hot that Gish claims she scalded her palm on a handle outside the cabin when she opened the door. The wind is howling constantly throughout the movie. Scarborough's novel was set in Sweetwater, Texas, where heavy breezes consistently blow in this town smack-dab in the middle of the state. In fact, the area is known as the "Wind Turbine Capital of Texas," hosting one of the largest wind farms in Texas and is at the nexus of the leading wind power generation region in the Western Hemisphere.
When Thalberg gave the movie the green light to be released a year after "The Jazz Singer's" 1927 premier, he described "The Wind" to Lillian as a very artistic film. She took his description as a "veiled punch," knowing any silent 'artistic' film wasn't going to perform well at the box office. The MGM producer's prediction was correct. It lost $87,000, mainly because viewers were flocking to the talkies just released at the same time. However, since then, the American Film Institute recognizes its importance, receiving nominations in both the Top 100 Most Heart-Pounding Movies and the Top 100 Greatest American Movies.