DW Griffith -- Romance From Moth-Balls -- November 8, 2021

Photoplay, November, 1921.

DW Griffith's last movie with Dorothy and Lillian Gish was Orphans of the Storm, which was adapted from an 1874 French melodrama, The Two Orphans, by Adolphe d'Ennery and Eugène Cormon.

Photoplay, December, 1921.

Photoplay, March, 1922.

Orphans of the Storm got a rave review from Photoplay.  "Don't miss this."

Moving Picture World, 26-November-1921

Moving Picture World, 26-November-1921

Moving Picture World, 26-November-1921

Motion Picture News, 04-September-1915

Theda Bara appeared in an adaption of The Two Orphans in 1915. Herbert Brenon directed. Like most of Theda Bara's Fox features, it is presumed to be lost. 

Albuquerque Evening Herald, 02-November-1921

Dream Street and Orphans of the Storm were the only features that Griffith released in 1921. Dream Street was not a hit. Many people have said mean things about the leading lady, Griffith's protégée, Carol Dempster.

Albuquerque Evening Herald, 03-November-1921

Screen Snapshots was a series of short films produced by C.B.C. Film Sales Corp and its successor, Columbia Pictures, from 1920 to 1958.

Bemidji Daily Pioneer, 05-November-1921

Way Down East, released in 1920, was still touring the country, doing land office business.

Amarillo Daily News, 20-November-1921

All of these items, a still from the icy river scene, an ad for the showing at the New Diandi Theater and a collection of quotes from eminent people like actor John Barrymore and artists Howard Chandler Christy and Charles Dana Gibson. Way Down East, like many of Griffith's big productions, was shown in a roadshow format, with higher ticket prices, a special orchestra and a limited number of showings daily, as opposed to the continuous programs shown by most theaters. 

Conway, Arkansas Log Cabin Democrat, 11-November-1921

Washington Evening Star, 27-November-1921

Note that many ads for Way Down East featured a large black circle, just like ads for Griffith's Birth of a Nation. 

Rockingham Post Dispatch, 12-November-1921

Birth of a Nation was still in release, giving aid and comfort to the second Ku Klux Klan. 

Moscow, Idaho Daily Star-Mirror, 12-November-1921

Griffith's war film, Hearts of the World, was shown to raise money for the American Legion. 

Amarillo Daily News, 20-November-1921

While Way Down East was playing at Amarillo's New Diandi Theater, the Olympic advertised a 1915 feature film, Martyrs of the Alamo, "Personally Directed by D. W. Griffith." Griffith produced the movie and Christy Cabanne directed. Producers were often called supervisors then.