For those who love silent films, this film needs no introduction. For those who know nothing about them and would like to begin your Silent Classics 101 class or better yet your Lillian Gish 101 class, begin with this. Lillian Gish was a silent screen star who also was a very successful movie star in talking pictures. But her main contributions to film history are her silent pictures. She was also in The Wind, The Scarlet Letter, Broken Blossoms, Orphans of the Storm, and in director D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, and Way Down East. All of them are essential to a Lillian Gish 101 class.
But begin with La Boheme. It centers around tenants in an apartment building, who are barely scraping by: John Gilbert who is a writer of stories and plays, or at least hopes to be, and Lillian Gish who sews to make money. They can barely make enough to pay for the rent. Gilbert at least has friends with whom he is "poor but happy" with. But Lillian is alone and looks as petite as actresses come. Their lives cross when he takes her in and feeds her out of pity and from thereon he falls in love with her. Miss Gish's dark expressive eyes and fine distinctive features only heighten her performance. She is heartbroken, when she has to give her clothes away and gets very little for them. And throughout the film, she does all she can to help the man she loves.
And the last 15 minutes is unforgettable as she is at death's door, but makes her way through the village, back to John Gilbert, hanging onto the back of trucks and literally dragging herself across the street. If you haven't had a good cry lately, I recommend this and defy anyone to not break down watching this. If you don't, then something is seriously wrong with you. What's amazing also is that Miss Gish was already petite, but she lost even more weight just for her final scenes to be believable. That is not makeup. The crew watching and even John Gilbert thought she was actually dying. But, Miss Gish was that way; she would do all for the sake of her work, as the true artist she was. This is in my opinion her tour de force, and that's saying a lot, as she was always outstanding in everything she ever did.
None of her other films really capture the intensity and sensitivity of her talents as La Boheme does, with the exception of The Wind. Discover Miss Lillian Gish and La Boheme and you may never want to go back to talking pictures.
But begin with La Boheme. It centers around tenants in an apartment building, who are barely scraping by: John Gilbert who is a writer of stories and plays, or at least hopes to be, and Lillian Gish who sews to make money. They can barely make enough to pay for the rent. Gilbert at least has friends with whom he is "poor but happy" with. But Lillian is alone and looks as petite as actresses come. Their lives cross when he takes her in and feeds her out of pity and from thereon he falls in love with her. Miss Gish's dark expressive eyes and fine distinctive features only heighten her performance. She is heartbroken, when she has to give her clothes away and gets very little for them. And throughout the film, she does all she can to help the man she loves.
And the last 15 minutes is unforgettable as she is at death's door, but makes her way through the village, back to John Gilbert, hanging onto the back of trucks and literally dragging herself across the street. If you haven't had a good cry lately, I recommend this and defy anyone to not break down watching this. If you don't, then something is seriously wrong with you. What's amazing also is that Miss Gish was already petite, but she lost even more weight just for her final scenes to be believable. That is not makeup. The crew watching and even John Gilbert thought she was actually dying. But, Miss Gish was that way; she would do all for the sake of her work, as the true artist she was. This is in my opinion her tour de force, and that's saying a lot, as she was always outstanding in everything she ever did.
None of her other films really capture the intensity and sensitivity of her talents as La Boheme does, with the exception of The Wind. Discover Miss Lillian Gish and La Boheme and you may never want to go back to talking pictures.