heh, we've all been lillian gish in this one

Really though, this is a painfully sad movie. Sure, the ending is somewhat beautiful and tastefully done, even if totally absurd. But every shot with Lillian Gish in the movies second half is totally heartbreaking. In my opinion, this isn't light-fare, this is romantic masochism. If not for the ending, this would be a movie about the impossibility of a love that lasts forever...Good thing Griffith is so idealistic.

But the cutting! Whoever says this is one of Griffith's least ambitious has no idea what they're talking about. "Simple, pastoral romance"? Griffith here is at his most free-associative. We can burst into flashback without notice, we can see what someone is…

"Be sure you get the right one"

A mix of sarcasm and sorrow that only Griffith could pull off. So, for roughly half of this he juxtaposes William's story of growing up, becoming his own and making a place for himself in the world with the staid space that Susie resides in back at home dreaming of everything she hasn't got. After this Griffith makes it clear that he's taking aim at William as well as Susie for being too ignorant to recognise what kind of a person he married. I'd hesitate to call Griffith's attitude towards Susie sardonic because he does obviously lament her naivety, (ref. Susie collapsing by the fence/gazing tearfully out the window) but her inability to…

Film #1 of Film School Drop Outs 2018

I don’t know how accurately True Heart Susie represents the gender dynamics of its time (early 1900s) and place (Chicago area), but the film’s tragedy is entirely drawn from those confines. Characters still make choices. But the film makes an effort to highlight the romantic narratives and sexism which determine these decisions. When William leaves for college, the film crosscuts between the lovers, showing Susie and William giving in to gendered ideas of how they should live. William needs to prove his worth by fighting; Susie needs to prove her worth by practicing housekeeping skills. Neither of them seem particularly comfortable what they’re doing—William even looks like a fool. And yet, what…

Maybe my favourite ever Lillian Gish performance, with everyone's favourite tiny-mouthed acting titan playing the "simple, plain" Susie, an angelic, motherless farmer who sells her cow to fund sweetheart Robert Harron's college career, then watches, powerless as he falls for a tight-skirted, powder-faced party animal (Clarine Seymour).

Yes, that is the best premise for a movie ever, thank you for asking.

True Heart Susie is old-fashioned, rose-tinted and heavy-handed in its depiction of the afflictions besetting America (adultery, dancing, lipstick), with a lurch towards melodrama in the final quarter that's more convenient than credible, but it's also utterly beguiling: beautifully directed by a filmmaker who could do Americana with the best of them, when he wasn't doing racism with the…

Whatever controversy Griffith may have stirred up in earlier work he continues to brush aside with beautiful films like True Heart Susie, a relic of early American cinema that is extremely old fashioned when viewed a hundred years on, but shot with such sensitivity, skill and assurance that its sentimentality becomes the selling point.

Lillian Gish wins our hearts once again in another collaboration with Griffith that uses her natural beauty, subdued acting style and youthful innocence to its full potential. Here she plays the 'Plain Jane' type farm girl (though putting her in rags doesn't exactly conceal her allure) whose kindness and dedication to William (Robert Harron) ultimately triumphs over the superficiality of other women who wear makeup and…

Really well made for its era, True Heart Susie is one of the better silent films and delivers a good story with varied characters. It starts off sweet at first and is a very easy watch all the way through even if tails off towards a cheesy ending. It's surprisingly emotional for a silent film and there's some particularly poignant flashbacks in the second half. 

The only real quibbles with the story is to do with dated notions of a woman's role of society and the plot is distinctly about the qualities of a good wife. Having said that, it's fairly unobjectionable given how it's presented (the characters' morals hold up in other aspects) and also given the era. It's…

Sentimental Impressions
(originally posted on IMDb 27 November 2009)

This is a gem among the smaller productions from D.W. Griffith's oeuvre. It's similar to "A Romance of Happy Valley", also a coming-of-age romance set in the countryside, which Griffith made with the same costars and released earlier in 1919. Griffith often turned to rural romance and such sentimental melodramas for his films. In this one, Lillian Gish is again self-sacrificing, pitiful and supposedly plain in appearance, while Robert Harron goes to the city to make good--this time to college to become his hometown's preacher. Gish and Harron had these roles down pat, and their translations from awkward teenagers to adulthood is especially impressive here, accomplished with costume changes and a…

D. W. Griffith + Lillian Gish = Masterpiece

Gue sebelumnya udah nonton dua film romantis di tahun 19, I Accuse dan Broken Blossom dan gue yakin itu dua film menginspirasi film romantis bertema serupa, I Accuse = cinta segitiga, Broken Blossom = cinta dua budaya. Nah ini gue yakin juga menginspirasi film romantis dengan tema serupa, tapi gue gak pasti ini masuk tema Friendzone atau apa yang jelas kayak perjuangan cinta tapi si anunya gak peka.

Ceritanya sendiri cukup manis (ketimbang dua film diatas) mengenai perjuangan seorang cewek yang jatuh cinta sama tetangga nya, namun si cowok nya ini gak nyadar. Gue suka banget sama tokoh cewek nya disini, dia itu kayak gak patah semangat, polos dan sederhana juga, ia…