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Way down East (D.W. Griffith, September 1920) based on a play by William A. Brady with Lilian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Kate Bruce, Mary Hay and Carol Dempster (uncredited barn dancer) for D.W. Griffith Productions / United Artists, camera G.W. Bitzer and Hendrik Sartov, Elmer Clifton second unit director and stunt double ¹

‘A simple story of simple people.’

Griffith starts with a moralizing story about the much-desired monogamy: One man for one woman. Even the saints of the Bible did not maintain this, yet the greatest happiness lies in purity and steadfastness (not that Griffith himself adhered to this). ‘Females raised to expect one steady partner suffer from the fact that the male animal only maintains this high standard in theory. If this story explains to men the suffering caused by our selfishness, it may not be in vain.’

Anna Moore and her mother live in a remote New England village. Anna represents women in general. Mother and daughter have money worries and Anna is sent to live with the Tremont’s, their wealthy family in Boston. Anna says: ‘Oh, mother, I don’t like asking them for money.’ Dusk falls and Anna turns on the oil lamp, with the virage going from black and white to yellow-green (00:05:25). ‘Okay, mother, I’m going there.’ Mother gives her a self-knitted jacket as a gift for cousin Emma. Anna feels like she is following the latest urban fashion with her gloves. She says goodbye to her mother and goes on her way. ‘A quest undertaken with the trembling footsteps of a poor relative.

We see a kind of bromine oil print of the Boston skyline. A bridge drive is underway at the Tremonts’ villa on the afternoon of Anna’s arrival. We see a lavishly dressed audience. Niece Emma Tremont and her daughter Diana act as hostess. At one of the tables, plays Lennox Sanderson, an intruder and playboy who feeds on his father’s pocket. Anna appears as a displaced person in this rich environment. She is even refused at the door by the butler at first. He says to Emma: ‘There is a young individual who says she is your cousin Anna Moore from Greenville.’ Emma observes Anna with some disgust, but Anna is naively cheerful when she sees her cousin. Emma says: ‘But child, what brings you here.’ Anna does not dare to bring up the money problems and turns the conversation to the home-knit jumper. Emma doesn’t like this piece of clothing and hands it over to the maid with one finger. Anna is deeply impressed by the interior while she is observed by Lennox Sanderson. Meanwhile, Mrs. Tremont discusses the painful news of Anna’s arrival with her daughters. ‘Send her away’ they say. But in the meantime, to make a good impression on their eccentric but extremely wealthy aunt, they are condescendingly nice to Anna. Anna says to them: ‘I know you both from the photo’s.’ Anna shows off her ‘fashionable’ gloves that she should have taken off long ago inside and that are tied together with a string. She says: ‘Yes, I expect to stay a little longer, at least if we get along well.’

Chapter II. ‘Near the Sanderson’s estate lies the village of Bartlett and also the home of Squire Bartlett, the richest farmer in the area.’ It’s spring, flowers are blooming and birds and chicks are being born. David Bartlett, the son of the family, is 21 years old and has a broad cultural interest. He daydreams of a sweet girl. His father, Squire Bartlett, is a puritan, commandment-keeping Christian. His wife is a loving Christian who reads the Bible.

The annual ball at the Tremont’s is a high society event. The two daughters are dressed festively. Anna is wearing the dress that her mother made for festive occasions. The sisters don’t like it and although the dresser makes another attempt with a voile scarf, the sisters leave Anna upstairs: ‘You can see us dancing from the railing of the landing.’ Their eccentric aunt, who has it in for the girls, ensures that Anna wears a beautiful dress with bare shoulders. ‘Oh, aunt, where’s the top of this dress?’: Anna thinks it’s too revealing, but a voile makes up for a lot. Aunt drags her along and people are already dancing downstairs. Anna looks stunning and Sanderson, who symbolically stands in front of an enormous bouquet of roses (00:20:39), sees this very well: ‘Her refined beauty hits Sanderson’s jaded feelings of lust like a bomb.’ Aunt introduces Anna to him and the sisters are unpleasantly affected by his interest in Anna. And several gentlemen introduce themselves to Anna. But Sanderson takes Anna aside and praises her beauty in poetic terms: ‘In your beauty, Elaine, the lily maiden who dreamed in Astolat, revives. (The lily-pure Elaine is in love with Sir Lancelot and lives in Astolat). In an intermediate shot (00:22:13) we see the beautiful Elaine standing in an idyllic landscape, with the wind blowing through her veils. Sanderson uses high-sounding language to compare Anna to Elaine and Anna, in harsh backlight, begins to fall in love (00:22:48). Cousin Emma comes by and sends Anna to bed, fearful that her daughters won’t stand a chance if all the attention goes to Anna. Anna can hardly say goodbye to Lennox Sanderson and keeps coming back. And Sanderson resolves to conquer Anna: He ‘is seized by a new desire’ and Anna is in love.

Lennox, after several encounters, manages to lure Anna to his apartment to meet a so-called aunt. But it turns out that aunt is not there. Anna says: ‘If Auntie isn’t here in five minutes, I have to go.’ Sanderson turns on his record player at the touch of a button. Some music should bring them closer and Lennox becomes more and more excited (00:26:11). And suddenly he grabs Anna (00:26:29), but Anna is not happy about this and wants to run away. But Lennox stops her at the door with a nice story: he wants to marry Anna. In a beautiful shot you see the sad doubt on Anna’s face (00:27:05), which turns into loving surrender (00:27:31): Anna’s inexperienced heart is caught in a tidal wave of foolish infatuation. And she falls into Lennox’s arms: ‘Oh, I’m going to tell everyone.’ But according to Lennox, that is precisely not the intention: ‘Sanderson does not want to thwart the wishes of his rich father, on whom he depends, and persuades Anna to promise secrecy. And she promises.

The eccentric cynical aunt leaves for her annual trip to Europe. Aunt and her two daughters meet Anna in the hall. ‘Did you say you were leaving for home tomorrow, Anna?’ ‘No, oh, yes, I will, that’s fine.’ ‘Sanderson is the type that if he can’t get what he wants one way, he’ll figure out a way to get it another way.’ He invites a buddy over and schemes. ‘Evil plans.’ ‘The urge of passion has no conscience and knows several paths to deceit.’ Lennox’s buddy dresses as a pastor, while a dubious lady smokes heavily (00:30:14), which says little good about her morality.

‘Sanderson gets Anna to marry secretly before she goes home.’ They get into a carriage together and drive to the house where the pseudo-reverend is already waiting. The dubious lady and one of the crooks act as witnesses. Far away, David Bartlett has a troubled dream. He dreams that Lennox and Anna are getting married, but that the wedding ring falls on the floor. He wakes up with a start, but sees that he is in his own bedroom and goes back to sleep. The dubious lady finds the ring on the floor. Anna finds the course of events a bit strange, but Lennox reassures her and the marriage is concluded. The ‘ pastor’ gets his money and the ‘ lady’ distracts Anna and admires the ring. The ‘couple’ leaves again.

Lennox and Anna enter the honeymoon suite of the Rose Tree Inn. A horizontal vignette at the top and bottom of the screen gives the image a widescreen effect (00:33:37), but also puts a doom on the scene. Sanderson has bought Anna a beautiful negligee and she quickly goes to change. For her this is the fulfillment of a young girl’s dreams, for him it is one of his many adventures. Anna looks ravishing in her nightgown with voiled wings and she presses herself against him. Conscience knocks on the door where the slightest interruption could avert tragedy, but… She says: ‘My, my husband!’ He sees how attractive she is and guides her to the bed.

On squire Bartlett’s farm, son David Bartlett is fooling around with the farmhands. In the afternoon, the post office of the village of Bartlett is robbed, but everyone is sleeping. The law’s feared underdog, police officer Rube Whipple, is also sleeping. Seth Holcomb, a somewhat ridiculous figure, is waiting for Martha Perkins, whom he has been chasing for twenty years. He takes a drink of liquor that he calls Longevity Bitter and follows Martha, who has just come out of her house. Officer Wipple chases the post office robbers, but his horse won’t go up the hill. He knows how to tempt the horse with some fresh grass. Meanwhile, Martha Perkins and Seth Holcomb arrive at the Bartlett farm. Martha complains that the men are after her. And then the cop appears and delivers the big news that the post office has been robbed: ‘One dollar and eighty-two cents worth of stamps and eighteen postcards have been stolen! I won’t let anyone make fun of the law, Seth Holcomb!’ And Seth and the cop get into a fight, but the cop backs off. (It’s unclear to me what this scene contributes to the film).

‘After just one day of honeymoon, Anna comes home to her mother as a chic lady and with a big secret.’ Her mother thinks she looks beautiful and ‘Anna eases her mother’s worries with mysterious hints of future opulence.’ ‘Meanwhile, Lennox finds his old behavior too pleasant to give up’: he sits among the ladies in the brothel, where a dancer is dancing. ‘And the secret meetings with Anna become more and more sparse until finally…’ Anna considers what she wants to call herself: ‘Mrs. Lennox Sanderson, Mrs. Anna Moore Sanderson, Mrs. Anna Sanderson or Mrs. Anna Lennox Sanderson. And she takes out the wedding ring that she wears on a ribbon under her clothes, puts it on her finger and kisses it. But then fear grips her heart while Lennox lets himself be pampered by the ladies in the brothel. Anna writes Lennox an urgent letter and ‘In response’ he drives up to Anna in a carriage. Anna rushes to the window and raves. She falls into his arms and showers him with kisses. And she shows him the ‘name choice’ note. That worries him and he says sternly: ‘You haven’t told anyone about our marriage, have you?’ But then Anna tells her that she can no longer keep it a secret because she is pregnant. ‘You shouldn’t tell anyone!’ ‘Why not?’ ‘Well, if you definitely want to know the truth, because we’re not married at all!’ Anna is shocked: she is stunned, but says: ‘You’re joking, tell me, aren’t you joking? And that wedding ring: ‘We must be married, look, our ring…’ Anna is between laughing and crying, she can’t believe it yet and goes on her knees in front of Lennox. She throws her arms around him, but he roughly removes them. He turns away from her: ‘Marriage would mean losing everything, I wanted to do it right, but… For heaven’s sake, don’t make a scene! I’ll give you a lot of money and then you can leave.’ It’s over for Lennox now, he leaves and leaves Anna in a panic. She runs around chaotically, shouting: ‘Mother! Mother!’ and swoons.

Mother finds Anna lying on the floor. Anna shows her the wedding ring and throws herself into her mother’s arms, crying. ‘Some time later, Anna’s mother has died and Anna hides, in shame, in the village of Belden’ where it is snowing. There is a doctor at her bedside: ‘Motherhood, the Gethesemane for a woman (=olive oil press, stands for the suffering of Jesus and more generally for suffering and torment). ‘Shadows across the clock face, the baby without a name.’ Anna sits (with backlight through her hair) in the shabby room with the baby on her lap. The baby has a fever but Anna seems to deny it. The doctor comes by and says: ‘My child, your baby is very sick’ and prescribes a drink: ‘Ten drops in a little water every hour until I return.’ The landlady, a stern woman says: ‘Where is your husband?’ ‘He is gone.’ ‘The landlady solemnly reminds Anna that if the baby dies without being baptized, she will never see God.’ ‘Helpless and alone in the terrible hours of the night and in the terrible fear for her baby’s soul…’ Anna walks around in a daze ‘…and performs the sacred rite herself.’ She prays: ‘In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…’ and sprinkles some water on the baby’s head. ‘I baptize you ‘Trust Lennox’.’ A wake follows in which the little hands on her chest grow cold. Anna tries to warm the hands by blowing on them. The doctor returns and finds that the baby is dead. Anna goes into a stupor, with her head thrown back. We see a cheerful Lennox Sanderson in his Bartlett estate, while Anna is visited by the landlady: ‘Everyone talks about you having no husband. I think you should leave.’ Anna packs a box with her clothes and leaves. ‘On her back the ancient cross. The pilgrimage.’

On Squire Bartlett’s farm, Hi Holler, the Bartlett’s’ choir boy, is getting ready in the barn to meet Kate Brewster, the squire’s niece. He polishes his shoes with Mica axle grease and also takes care of his eyebrows. ‘A reckless viewer’: The chicken in the straw observes Hi Holler, who is very pleased with the result, and lays an egg that smashes on Hi’s head. The squire calls out: ‘Hi Holler! Hurry, it’s time to pick up Kate!’ (This scene also seems redundant to me). Anna walks along the country road with her box of clothes. On the farm, David Bartlett, the family’s son, helps his mother carry the butter churn. Anna, looking for work, arrives in the village of Bartlett. She asks a woman who is sweeping in the front yard for work in vain, while Lennox rides away on horseback from his spacious estate. Kate, the squire’s niece, is returning from a short trip from Boston on the steam train. Hi Holler is standing in front of the station with his carriage and they are happy to see each other. ‘The professor, who stays in the summer with squire Bartlett, studies butterflies.’ Again we see such an idiotic type, this time with a butterfly net and glasses. He sees a beautiful butterfly on Martha Perkins’ hair and throws his butterfly net over her head, to which she reacts angrily. ‘Is this the young cousin you expected from Boston?’ Martha Perkins puts her hat back on. (Apparently these are ‘funny’ intermezzo’s that are supposed to break the tension of the otherwise dramatic story).

Anna walks past the farm on the country road. She sees David Bartlett, but he doesn’t see her. Anna takes the plunge and walks into the yard and meets David. He is stunned when he sees her but she looks defeated. Anna continues walking to the squire: ‘I’m looking for work.’ But the farmer says: ‘Work? You don’t seem to have the strength to work. Who are you, what family do you come from?’ ‘I have no family.’ The squire does not want to hire her. ‘She may be a woman of loose sexual morals who wanders around. I don’t want her around me!’ The squire wants to send her away, but David and his wife disagree and his wife quotes the Bible (Matthew 25:40): ‘Whatever you have done for the wretched of the earth, you have done for me (Jesus). That’s the Scripture, Father.’ ‘OK, Mother, we’ll try with her. No one can ever say I went against Scripture!’ David is also happy. Mother says: ‘Whatever trouble you have, child, remember, the Lord is your Shepherd, you shall not want.’ Anna kisses the squire’s wife and David is a little restless and is interested in Anna.

Kate has been picked up by Hi Holler in the carriage and arrives home. She immediately runs in enthusiastically and embraces, hugs her aunt and jumps into the squire’s arms. ‘It was decided by the squire and his family, when Kate and David were still small, that Kate and David would marry each other.’ David, on behalf of his father, gives Kate a cool kiss. When Anna is setting the table, Hi Holler comes in and expresses ‘Open admiration’ for Anna by leaving his mouth open. The professor is standing outside when Kate comes hopping over and is in love with her at first glance. Kate says that the lace on her shoe is loose and the professor immediately gets on his knees to tie the shoe. Kate shows a whole part of her lower leg, which arouses the interest of Seth Holcomb. Martha Perkins sees this and throws a bowl of water over Holcomb’s head. Kate is introduced to Anna by the squire.

But then an important plot twist occurs: Lennox Sanderson arrives at the farm on his horse. He is an acquaintance of the squire: ‘Well, neighbor Sanderson, we haven’t seen each other since Kate left.’ Sanderson wants to have his latest adventure with Kate, who is hiding behind a newspaper. He pushes the newspaper away and flirts with Kate. Meanwhile, Anna is in the kitchen rolling dough. The squire says to David: ‘Will you show neighbor Sanderson the heifer (young cow) that he wants to buy, before dinner? ’ David and Sanderson go into the meadow together to look at the cow. The squire’s wife asks Anna to fetch water from the well. A pigeon comes to sit on her shoulder. Father, Mother, Holcomb, Martha Perkins, the professor and Kate sit down at the table as evening falls (as can be seen from the dark blue virage). And then Anna, who is standing outside at the well, is suddenly confronted by Lennox Sanderson. Both are speechless. After a while he says: ‘What are you doing here?’ ‘I work here.’ But he says: ‘You can’t stay here, I live across the road.’ Lennox is called in by mother: ‘Dinner is ready.’ Inside, Sanderson is received as a welcome guest. Outside, Anna is sobbing uncontrollably (relational cross-cut 01:20:43 inside vs outside, warm domesticity vs cold desolation, harmony vs crisis). Lennox flirts with Kate while outside David meets Anna: ‘Father was right. I’m afraid you’re not strong enough for this job. But don’t go away Miss Moore! I, we like you very much and after a while you will get stronger…’ Mother calls Anna and David inside and David helps her carry the water bucket inside. End of part I.

Part II. Anna is outside churning butter. ‘She has now become a beloved member of the family, while her past is a closed book.’ David is standing in the field putting hay on a cart. Meanwhile, Sanderson tries to grab Kate while walking in the garden, but Kate runs away. Anna takes a break by the water in an idyllic setting. ‘David only knows about Anna’s impeccable behavior with them and is fascinated by the thought that Anna is the virgin white flower of his dreams.’ He walks through a forest of white flowers towards her (01:25:56) and sits with Anna. ‘By the river and the music of the waterfall in the distance and around them the sweet smell of the fields of blooming summer flowers.’ ‘David points to two branches of the river that merge…’ The setting sun turns the sky and the water orange (orange virage). ‘Excited by a great sincere love, she envisions how the two of them would go through life… A heart for a heart, a soul for a soul, a love for a love for eternity. Finally, the great overwhelming love, which can only be held back by the grim ghosts of her past.’ Anna thinks about this and already foresees problems. David says: ‘I’m just trying to tell you that I love you, Anna, it seems like I’ve always loved you!’ He wants to hug her, but Anna is reluctant to do so and shakes her head no. ‘She tells him never to use those words again’ and leaves.

‘Summer goes, winter comes. We cannot control the year, nor can we control fate.’

The farm is covered in snow and Kate is playing the piano inside in front of the fireplace. The professor’s feelings of love take him to the countryside to visit Kate. Kate reacts rather shyly. Hi Holler sits between them and wants to tell jokes. But that does not match the intentions of Kate and the professor, who accidentally kicks Kate in the shins. He also sits down on his bowler hat (another pointless supposedly funny scene). The professor tries to propose to Kate but is interrupted by the arrival of the squire. Officer Wipple and Seth Holcomb are sitting by a large stove (as it turns out, in the store) and the officer is reading the newspaper. Seth asks him for a piece of the newspaper and the officer tears off a piece for him and laughs. Two men are standing outside talking: ‘The ice will be loose soon. When that starts you better watch out downstream!’

Anna goes to the store for things that were forgotten for tonight’s party. Martha Perkins appears in the store, and is attacked again by Seth Holcomb. (Pointless scene). A girl pulls a sled with a baby through the snow outside. Anna kneels down next to the child, plays with it and kisses it. Next we see ‘The sewing shop near the shop.’ Martha Perkins enters there, but also Maria Poole, the strict landlady from Belden, who visits Bartlett. Anna has now done her shopping and walks past the house where the sewing circle is located. Martha Perkins and Maria Poole look outside and see Anna standing there. Maria Poole recognizes Anna and Martha Perkins says: ‘That’s Anna Moore, she lives with Squire Bartlett.’ ‘Moore? Her name is not Moore… She lived in my house and called herself Mrs. Lennox, but she had no husband at all!’ Martha Perkins, with a wicked laugh, thinks that is an exciting story. ‘And then there was a baby.’ Martha Perkins thinks that makes the story even more beautiful. She gestures to Maria Poole not to tell the ladies, she will take care of it: ‘It is my duty to report the history of this woman to the squire.’.

‘The squire thinks the time has come to connect David and Kate.’ He puts them together in the room, where Kate picks up a book and David struggles with his feelings for Anna. He says: ‘Father wants us to get married, but that’s not possible without us being in love with each other.’ Kate agrees with that. Meanwhile, Martha Perkins, full of interesting news, is on her way to the squire. We see her on the road in a backwards tracking shot at 00:42:01. David seems to take the plunge and propose to Anna, but he hesitates and eventually leaves, leaving a madly in love Anna behind. The squire enters to see how his coupling attempt has turned out, but finds only Anna in the room. She says: ‘Suppose, squire, that I was as you thought of me when you first saw me. Would there be any hope of forgiveness?’ He answers: ‘If the law has been broken, it has been broken, right? Wrong is wrong and nothing can make it right.’ And she says: ‘Sure, it was just a thought.’

A very cheerful company is on its way to the dance party in the barn with horse and sleigh.

We see them in a backwards tracking shot at 01:45:02. Martha Perkins arrives at the farm and looks scornful at Anna. Anna senses danger and flees upstairs. Martha Perkins tells the squire and his wife: ‘Maria Poole, from Belden was at the sewing party and she says… No, I shouldn’t tell you!’ But the squire insists on hearing the secret. ‘It’s that… Oh, it’s awful…’ Meanwhile, the party comes walking in and before Martha tells her spectacular news…’ the guests take up everyone’s attention. ‘On the way to the party, the group makes a stop at the squire’s to warm up with an old-fashioned dance.’ Anna arrives with a tray of glasses of fruit wine and David wants to dance with her. But she says: ‘No, I’m not invited to the party.’ The professor is a bit giddy from dancing, but happy. And David takes his mother on the dance floor. Meanwhile, Martha Perkins awaits her chance. Officer Whipple sings a song, after which the party leaves. David, for some reason, is suddenly no longer interested in the party and goes to his room upstairs, while Anna is alone downstairs.

On ‘The barn party at the neighbors’ the entire community comes to attend. The guests stream in while the cows are in the stable. Anna is quietly sewing in the farmhouse when she hears the noise of a sled in front of the door (and looks up: acoustic coupling 01:52:40). Lennox Sanderson appears by sledge and goes inside. ‘Sanderson is increasingly concerned about Anna’s presence and worried that she will disrupt his hunt for Kate.’ He sits down with Anna and says, ‘I don’t want you anywhere near where I live! Suppose they find out about your former life. Then you should leave!’ But she says: ‘Suppose they find out about your past!’ ‘Oh, but that’s very different for a man! He is supposed to spread his wild seed (oats)’ and Lennox smiles at that. He tries to intimidate Anna by raising his voice, and that is heard by David upstairs. He looks up from his book (acoustic coupling 01:54:45). Kate defends herself manfully and David decides to go downstairs to take a look. Anna is in tears and Lennox feels caught. David gives him a dirty look and gestures for Lennox to get the hell out of here.

At the party, Martha finally gets the opportunity to tell her story to the squire and his wife. In the farmhouse, David sits down with Anna and says: ‘Does Lennox Sanderson mean anything to you?’ ‘Why do you ask that?’ ‘Because I can’t keep quiet about it anymore. I love you! I want you to be my wife.’ That is the most that Anna would want, as can be read on her face, but also impossible given her history. ‘Please! Please don’t do that!’ she says. Anna tries to break away from David, but would prefer to kiss him. Finally the truth finally comes out: ‘I can never be a man’s wife again! And she runs away, upstairs. David doesn’t understand it. Anna collapses in her servants’ room. David stands at the door, but cannot enter. At the party, Martha Perkins informs the squire about Anna’s past: ‘Anna Moore lived in Belden under the name of Mrs. Lennox! And she had a baby even though she wasn’t married. She had a baby, but she didn’t wear a wedding ring on her finger.’ The squire goes into a frenzy: ‘I’ll throw her out of my house tonight.’ The squire’s wife tries to calm him down. ‘No, father, you must have proof of that.’ ‘I’m going to Belden tomorrow morning, and if it’s true…’

The next morning the squire heads to Belden to verify Martha’s story and Anna senses trouble. David meets Anna in the dining room: ‘I can’t live without you, Anna! You MUST give me a reason.’ Stuttering, Anna reminds David of his obligation to marry Kate. ‘Anna. DO you love me!’ David doesn’t get an answer and leaves. The squire’s wife and Kate confront Anna: ‘Terrible woman! You knew he was meant to marry Kate! If David loves you, Anna, he won’t marry anyone else. What should we do?’

Sanderson comes to visit Kate with a large bouquet of roses (02:02:25), a sign of his ‘ love’. Around noon the squire arrives in Belden at the house of landlady Maria Poole with his sleigh. The landlady confirms the story: ‘It’s all true, her baby was even born in this room.’ The squire knows enough. In the afternoon Anna is setting the table. Kate arrives with a vase of Lennox roses. And then Martha comes rushing in: ‘Heavens, roses in winter’ and she smells the roses (02:04:51). Anna fears that Kate is a threat to her. Sanderson holds Kate’s hand, but is interrupted by Anna who deliberately drops a bowl of rusk on him. And then the squire comes home. He looks grim and Martha looks at him questioningly: what has his research yielded? The squire takes off his coat and Anna is ready to take his coat, but he refuses. Lennox wonders what’s going on. Anna serves food, but he pushes it aside: ‘I don’t want any food from you!’ He stands at the door angrily and points: And now get out! ‘The time has come for you to pack your things and leave this house!’ Mother and Kate don’t understand it. ‘I don’t want words! Fuck off!’ Anna grabs her cape and takes off her apron just as David comes in in his thick fur coat and asks what this means. ‘That means she’s leaving my house! I found out all kinds of things about her, she can’t possibly stay here. She is the mother of a baby, but she has NO HUSBAND!’ David wants to attack his father, but mother prevents him from doing so. Lennox, Kate and the professor jump up. David says: ‘Tell them it’s a lie Anna.’ ‘I can’t do that!’ and she hangs her head. David now realizes that they have a big problem. Anna looks around and also sees Lennox standing there. If looks could kill. Anna says: You have discovered so much, why haven’t you found the whole truth? Lennox starts to hyperventilate. The initially naive Anna has now turned into a mature, self-confident woman: ‘That I was an ignorant girl who was deceived with a fake marriage.’ And now she points fiercely and passionately at Lennox: ‘This man, an honored guest at your table, why don’t you find out how HIS life turned out? Because he is the man who cheated on me!’ All the guests at the table, father, mother, David, Martha Perkins, Kate and the professor are scared to death. Lennox tries to get Anna to keep quiet, but she leaves. David breaks a plate in anger and attacks Lennox. Anna faces the cold snow and plows against the wind. David thinks that Anna has fled to her room, but is standing upstairs in front of a closed door. Anna is outside in the cold storm. The squire angrily shows Lennox the door and David goes looking for Anna with a lantern and shouts loudly for her who is trudging through the snowdrift. David falls and breaks the glass of his lantern. The squire and his wife now also go looking for Anna with a lantern, and Kate and the professor also set off. Lennox’s sled capsizes on the ice and Lennox falls out. David arrives at the ‘Sugar Camp’ (temporary shelter for workers who tap and process maple sap from the trees in winter and early spring) and calls on the workers to help search for Anna. Lennox, who is back on his feet, also arrives at the ‘Sugar Camp’ and gets into a fight with David. Meanwhile, Anna is still desperately plowing through the snow (02:15:21). In front of her is the river with ice floes. ‘Confused and tortured, the river calls’ (02:16:41). Meanwhile, the squire and his wife have also arrived at the ‘Sugar Camp”.

‘The storm passes’ but Anna loses her cape. She falls down on the ice with her hair and right hand in the ice-cold water. The ice floes break and float on the way to the waterfall. Anna is lying on one of the ice floes. David sees her, goes onto the ice and finds Anna’s cape. He sees Anna floating by on an ice floe and jumps from ice floe to ice floe to get to her. He regularly falls into the water, but always climbs out. The accumulated ice floes flow towards the waterfall where the floes break. The waterfall (in fact the Niagara Falls) is enormous. Anna is dripping her hair in the ice-cold water. David takes more and more risks and jumps from floe to floe as the ice mass flows towards the waterfall. Just before Anna goes down the waterfall with her ice floe, David reaches her (02:22:41), picks her up and jumps back over the floes with her in his arms. Eventually he manages to get her to the side and takes her to the ‘Sugar Camp’, where he puts her on the bed and covers her with a blanket.

In the morning Anna opens her eyes and sees David’s face. They press their faces together and David strokes her hair. The squire and his wife, Kate and the professor now also arrive at the camp. The squire’s wife kisses Anna’s hand and the squire asks for forgiveness. Anna is willing to give that. Lennox has now also returned to his senses. He comes to Anna and says: Come on, Anna, I know I did it wrong. But I’m willing to marry you if you want me.’ Anna shakes her head no and turns her head away. Kate turns her back on Sanderson and Seth pulls Martha away from him.

Kate and the professor stand in the middle of the entire group in neat wedding clothes and make the vows, but then the camera pans to the right, where Anna and David are standing in extremely luxurious and fashionable clothing. Anna looks like a princess and carries a beautiful flower bouquet (02:26:57) and takes the vow. The squire and his wife are witnesses. But Seth Holcomb and Martha Perkins also appear to be getting married. At 02:28:21 we get a kind of widescreen shot of the entire wedding spectacle, at the top and bottom of the frame surrounded by flowers. There are congratulations and kisses. ‘One man for one woman, in the Sacramental union, is life’s most beautiful and sweetest covenant.’ The end.

Lilian Gish

is 27 years old at the time of this production and plays the naive girl who has developed into a furious independent woman at the end of the film.

The austere Kate Bruce played the mother role in Griffith’s films, including Intolerance (1916), The Idol Dancer (1920), The Eternal Mother (1921) and Orphans in the Storm (1921). She was supported financially and practically by Lilian Gish. Lilian Gish paid for her hotel room in New York and Bruce ate at Gish several times a week.

Bobby Harron,

who had played the male lead in ‘Hearts of the World’ hoped for the lead role in ‘Broken Blossoms’ and in ‘Way Down East’, but Griffith chose Richard Barthelmess. At the premiere of Way Down East on September 3, 1920, Bobby Harron was missing. It turned out that he had seriously injured himself with his revolver in the Algonquin hotel and died after a few days. According to Billy Bitzer this was a fatal accident, but it seems more likely that this was a suicide because he was passed over for these leading roles ².

On-ice shots

In American Cinematographer, Lee Smith, one of the men who helped with the on-ice shots, describes how it was made. The ice floes scene from ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Slavery Days’ (E.S. Porter, September 1903) for Edison Manufacturing Co. ³ served as inspiration for the ice scenes in Way Down East, which were shot on the frozen Connecticut River near Wilders, Vermont. Here the river flows over a waterfall that powered the International Paper Company factory. The river had frozen over and the ice had to be sawn into pieces and partly blown up with dynamite to form ice floes. The ice floes were connected with cables so that they would not drift too far apart. To get the floes moving, Griffith used the canal that led to the paper mill. Most rescue scenes were filmed here. Every three meters a cable was strung as a lifeline, while an old rope bridge hung above the waterfall, with a man standing with a lifeline. Lilian Gish bravely bore the bitter cold without gloves or hat and without a thick overcoat, but she had to be warmed up between shots. There were ‘doubles’ for Lilian Gish and Richard Barthlemess, but they were not used. Only Richard Barthlemess, when the scene where he had to jump from ice floe to ice floe on the way to the waterfall, suddenly flew away. Second unit director Elmer Clifton donned Barthlemess’ bearskin coat and performed the stunt. At the end of this scene, which was shot with ten camera’s, he was caught with ropes at the suspension bridge above the waterfall

⁴.

Flowers as a sign of love and sexuality:

Anna looks stunning and Sanderson, who symbolically stands in front of an enormous bouquet of roses (00:20:39), sees this very well: ‘Her refined beauty hits Sanderson’s jaded feelings of lust like a bomb.’

‘David is fascinated by the thought that Anna is the virgin white flower of his dreams.’ He walks through a forest of white flowers towards her (01:25:56) and sits with Anna. ‘By the river and the music of the waterfall in the distance and around them the sweet scent of the fields of blooming summer flowers.’

Sanderson comes to visit Kate with a large bouquet of roses (02:02:25), a sign of his ‘ love’. In the afternoon Anna is setting the table. Kate arrives with a vase of Lennox roses. And then Martha comes rushing in: ‘Heavens, roses in winter’ and she smells the roses (02:04:51).

Color change within a scene:

Dusk falls and Anna turns on the oil lamp, with the virage going from black and white to yellow-green (00:05:25).

Wind and waves:

In an intermediate shot (00:22:13) we see the beautiful Elaine standing in an idyllic landscape, with the wind blowing through her veils.

Acoustic coupling:

Anna is quietly sewing in the farmhouse when she hears the noise of a sled in front of the door (and looks up: acoustic coupling 01:52:40). Lennox Sanderson appears at the door by sleigh. Lennox tries to intimidate Anna by raising her voice, en which is heard by David upstairs. He looks up from his book (acoustic coupling 01:54:45).

Violence against women:

A piece of music is intended to bring them closer and Lennox becomes increasingly excited (00:26:11). And suddenly he grabs Anna (00:26:29), but Anna doesn’t like this and wants to run away. Anna is behaved badly by the squire and sent out in snow and ice.

Woman smoking cigarettes:

Lennox’s buddy dresses like a pastor while a dubious lady smokes heavily (00:30:14), which doesn’t speak well for her morality.

Vignette:

Lennox and Anna enter the honeymoon suite of the Rose Tree Inn. A horizontal vignette at the top and bottom of the screen gives the image a widescreen effect (00:33:37), but also puts a doom on the scene.

Relational cross-cut:

Inside, Sanderson is received as a welcome guest. Outside Anna stands sobbing madly (relational cross-cut 01:20:43 inside vs outside, warm domesticity vs cold desolation, harmony vs crisis).

Suicide:

Meanwhile, Anna is still desperately plowing through the snow (02:15:21). In front of her is the river with ice floes. ‘Confused and tortured, the river calls’ (02:16:41). Anna has decided to commit suicide by surrendering to the cold river. She falls down on the ice, with her hair and right hand in the ice-cold water. The ice floes break and float on the way to the waterfall.

Footnotes

1. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtcaL63nnUc (timecodes) ↩

2. Billy Bitzer, His Story, Farrar, Straus and Giroux 1973, pg 235, 236 ↩

3. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDyZcJIv8Tg ↩

4. The American Cinematographer Vol. 2. No. 22, 1 december 1921, pg 4 ↩