American & French Revolution Films in the 1920s

Orphans of the Storm, Scaramouche, and America Are All Epics

Nov 1, 2008

The 1920s comprised the Golden Age of Silent Movies. These three epic films set during the American and French Revolutions are part of the reason why.

The period from shortly after the end of World War I to the advent of the talkies saw the appearance of many European and American movie epics that were expensive productions with large casts. Some of these films were based on mythology, legend or works of fiction, others were biblical tales, and a third type had actual historical events as their background.

In the early 1920s, veteran director D. W. Griffith and the young Rex Ingram turned to the 1700s to tell stories centered around that century’s two most momentous events -- the American and French Revolutions. The results were three films that have many of the “flaws” associated today with silent movies, but, nevertheless, are still worth watching at least once.

This film is a combination of melodrama and history, filled with excellent imagery. Two young orphaned sisters (Lillian and Dorothy Gish), one of whom is blind, are separated in Paris and unwillingly thrown into the chaos of The Reign of Terror that followed the French Revolution. Based on the 19th century French play, Les Deux Orphelines, Griffith also throws in a subtle criticism of the then recent Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.

In some respects, the film has not aged well. The Gish sisters give fine performances, but other actors are often over the top and the script is frequently unbelievable. However, other features make the movie worth watching. Skilled use of tinting makes the film easy on the eyes and the sets are very realistic. Scenes featuring the Paris mob are chilling to watch and the climatic race to save Lillian from the guillotine is exciting due to the attention to detail and brilliant editing.

Also set during the Reign of Terror, the film was based on Rafael Sabatina’s 1921 book of the same name. A young student (Ramon Novarro) with ties to the aristocracy becomes a French revolutionary when he sets out to avenge the needless murder of a friend. In order to get to the aristocratic killer (Lewis Stone), he joins a theatrical troupe and becomes a clown known as Scaramouche.

Director Rex Ingram’s masterpiece had a million dollar budget (remember this was 1923) and used 30 principal actors and 10,000 extras. A French village, covering 60 acres was built complete with cobblestone streets and shop windows filled with actual goods and products. According to the IMDB, it took fifty-five persons four months to make the costumes. In larger theaters, the movie was accompanied by a symphony orchestra playing music that ranged from La Marseillaise to Mozart.

Unfortunately, Ingram is scarcely known today, but he was one of Hollywood’s finest directors in the silent era. At the time of Scaramouche, he already had had two major box office successes with 1921’s The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and The Prisoner of Zenda the following year.

Although D. W. Griffith continued to make movies until 1931, Orphans of the Storm was his last successful box office movie. Three years after that film, Griffith attempted a comeback with this three hour fictionalized account of the American Revolution. Although it was not well received by the audiences of that day and a financial disaster, the director did create a film which has its interesting moments.

America in many ways is a remake of The Birth of a Nation without the blatant racism. Like that movie, the story centers around two families -- one patriot, the other loyalist -- torn apart by the war. Unfortunately, it is this main storyline that hurts the movie the most as, unlike Nation, it seems actually out of place and slows the film‘s pace.

The movie’s highlights come during the large scale battle scenes, one of Griffith’s trademarks. Particularly good is the re-enactment of Bunker Hill. Some of the acting is also decent. Neil Hamilton, who later played Commissioner Gordon on television’s Batman, is competent as the young patriot and Lionel Barrymore gives a chilling performance as a sadistic British officer. His character almost seems to be the prototype for Colonel Tavington in Mel Gibson’s The Patriot.

The copyright of the article American & French Revolution Films in the 1920s in Classic Films is owned by John K. Davis. Permission to republish American & French Revolution Films in the 1920s in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.