Dorothy Gish deserves to be approached as a light comedian, not simply as Lillian’s sister. Her expressive eyes and physical timing give us a reason to look beyond the suffering of Orphans of the Storm.
Fi1m perspective
In Orphans of the Storm (1921), Dorothy Gish plays the blind Louise Girard opposite Lillian Gish’s Henriette, in a film determined to make every distress felt. It is good historical melodrama, and her performance belongs to its openly emotional style. We were moved, chiefly because Lillian’s directness kept us concerned with Henriette through the extravagant plotting. Our attention returns to Lillian, but this dramatic part gives only a partial account of Dorothy’s strengths.
Her comic breakthrough was the street singer in Hearts of the World (1918). Expressive eyes and physical comedy were her tools, and pert, lively characters became her speciality. The Paramount comedies of 1918–1920, including work with director Elmer Clifton, gave those skills a sustained outlet beyond her appearances beside her sister. Judging her only by Griffith’s melodramas would leave out much of what she did well, particularly the comic timing that made her suited to lighter leading roles.
Sweetness and familiar mannerisms can also become limitations, as some contemporary notices of Madame Pompadour (1927) observed. In Orphans of the Storm, we tire when the film insists on feelings we have already understood. Griffith’s suspense survives our doubts about the plotting, and the actors’ emotional openness remains part of the pleasure. We would happily keep the extravagance and lose some of the repetition; a tighter film need not ask its actors to feel less.
After Orphans of the Storm, Gish left Griffith and made several British silents, including Nell Gwyn (1926), in which she played the title role. After the coming of sound she worked mainly on stage, with occasional screen appearances continuing to The Cardinal (1963), her last. That intermittent later film career can make it easy to overlook how sustained her earlier work in comedy had been. Choose Orphans of the Storm for the sisters together; for Dorothy’s comic identity, begin with Hearts of the World.
Biography
Dorothy Elizabeth Gish was an American actress of stage and screen. She and her older sister Lillian Gish appeared together in several D.W. Griffith silent films, including Orphans of the Storm (1921), in which she played Louise Girard.
Gish made her stage debut as a child and entered films in 1912 after an introduction to Griffith by Mary Pickford. She appeared in numerous shorts and features, often in comedic roles, and later returned to the stage with Broadway successes such as Life with Father (1940). Her later screen credits include The Cardinal (1963).
