The Wind (1928)

Lillian Gish is Letty Mason, a pretty young girl from Virginia traveling to Sweet Water, Texas, to live with her cousin.

On the train ride west, she meets an older man named Wirt Roddy (Montagu Love). When the winds blows sand all over the snack she’s eating, he treats her to an apple.

But he also shares an ominous warning. The wind always blows on the prairie. In fact, it’s been known to drive some pioneers crazy.

Once she arrives in Sweet Water, she’s warmly welcomed by Beverly, her cousin’s husband. You see, they grew up together.

Her cousin Cora isn’t as welcoming. She’s jealous of Letty, becomes convinced she’s trying to steal Beverly away. Cora winds up ordering Letty out of her home.

With no money and no where to go, Letty turns to Roddy, only to discover he’s an already-married, lecherous lout.

The leaves her with two options: a young rancher named Lige Hightower (Lars Hanson) or his partner Sourdough, both of whom have proposed marriage.

She opts for the younger, only to dread what might happen on her wedding night. When Lige comes to realize that dread — and that Letty really doesn’t love him — he vows to raise the money to send her back East.

But Roddy hasn’t given up on the pretty young woman after whom he’s been lusting.

The wind that’s been haunting Letty isn’t through with her either.

Lillian Gish as Letty Mason, reacting to the winds howling outside her cabin in The Wind (1928)

Lars Hanson as Lige Hightower, realizing Letty Mason didn’t marry him out of love in The Wind (1928)

Review:

Western fans likely remember Lillian Gish playing older women — the wife of the cattle king in Duel in the Sun (1946, starring Gregory Peck and Jennifer) or the matriarch of the Zachary family in The Unforgiven (1960, starring Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn).

Much earlier than that, she was one of the early screen sirens, appearing in dozens of silent films and shorts between 1912 and 1929 and becoming known as the First Lady of American Cinema.

This film marked her final silent screen appearance. She approached MGM with the idea of turning a 1926 Dorothy Scarborough novel of the same name into a film. She apparently also got to chose her director and her leading man.

The result is a film that still impresses today and doesn’t shy away from potentially uncomfortable or disturbing scenes, including Letty’s wedding night and Roddy’s return to her cabin when she’s alone and terrified of the storm whipping outside.

When the film aired on TNT, Gish filmed an intro in which she discussed the on-set conditions — she called them the most uncomfortable of her career — and how the film crew used eight airplane propellers to blow sand around for the film’s special effects.

The ending was a point of contention. In the novel, Letty, driven insane, wanders into the windstorm to die. That ending was too dour for the studio’s taste, Gish says. She considered the change “morally unjust.”

Still, she added: “The film seems to have stood the test of time. But, judge for yourself?”

Yep, she’s correct. Gish died in 1993 at age 99.

Montagu Love as Wirt Roddy meets Letty Mason (Lillian Gish) on the westbound train in The Wind (1928)

William Orlamond as Sourdough, one of the cowboys smitten with Letty Mason in The Wind (1928)

Directed by:
Victor Sjostrom

Cast:
Lillian Gish … Letty
Lars Hanson … Lige
Montagu Love … Roddy
Dorothy Cumming … Cora
Edward Earle … Beverly
William Orlamond … Sourdough
Carmecita Johnson … Cora’s child
Leon Janney … Cora’s child
Billy Kent Schaefer … Cora’s child

Runtime: 95 min.

Edward Earle as Beverly, thrilled that Letty Mason has arrived at his ranch out West in The Wind (1928)

Dorothy Cumming as Cora, her jealousy instantly aroused upon Letty’s arrival at her home in The Wind (1928)

Memorable lines:

Letty: “My, the wind is awful, isn’t it? I wish it would stop.”
Roddy: “You’re goin’ to wish that a-plenty, little lady, if you’re out here for any stay.”

Cora to Letty: “You don’t think I ain’t seen through your tricks, Miss Sly Boots!”

Letty: “Take me with you, Lige. I’ll go mad here, alone, with that wind.”

Mantagu Love as Wirt Roddy tries to comfort Letty Mason (Lillian Gish) as a cyclone rages outside in The Wind (1928)

Lillian Gish as Letty Mason, fearful on her wedding night in The Wind (1928)