History Film / TheWind

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_wind_1928.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Lillian Gish has had enough.]]

''The Wind'' (1928), [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on a novel]] by Dorothy Scarborough, was one of the great masterpieces of the late [[UsefulNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood silent era]]. Creator/LillianGish plays Letty Mason, a sheltered, naive young woman from Virginia who goes off to live with her (male) cousin Beverly and Beverly's wife Cora on their farm in Sweet Water, in the flatlands of West Texas. On the train, Letty meets and is attracted to a handsome but lecherous man named Wirt Roddy (Montagu Love). Letty does not particularly like Sweet Water: Cora is jealous of her husband's interest in Letty, Letty is not interested in either of the two locals who want to marry her, and worst of all, Sweet Water is in the middle of a desert that is struck with almost unending, constantly blowing wind that Letty finds extremely unsettling.

After a particularly bad cyclone blows through town, and after Cora demands that Letty leave her house, Letty accepts Wirt's proposal--except that Wirt is already married and simply wants her to run away with him. She marries Lige Hightower (Lars Hanson), one of her two local suitors, because she has no other choice. Lige is a good man and desperately in love with Letty but she has no interest in him, and eventually tells him so. Crushed, Lige agrees to send her away. But Letty hasn't seen the last of the wind, nor of Wirt, who won't take no for an answer...

''The Wind'' was Lillian Gish's last silent film and one of her last starring roles. It was inducted into the UsefulNotes/NationalFilmRegistry in 1993.

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!!This film provides examples of:

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Mr. Sourdough, Letty's other suitor.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Letty is clearly drawn to the roguish, charming Wirt, instead of the gentle, kind Lige. She winds up accepting Wirt's proposal, only to find out that he's already married and wasn't asking her what she thought he was.
* AssholeVictim: Wirt richly deserves his fate.
* BreakTheCutie: Poor, poor Letty.
* DancesAndBalls: Sweet water has a square dance. This is where Letty is forced to pick a suitor.
* DesertSkull: We see skeletons of dead cattle in the desert sand, reminding us of the ThirstyDesert. And the unbearable wind. Shot on location in the Mojave Desert, with aircraft propellers providing the eponymous wind.
* DeterminedHomesteader: Lige, Beverly. Have to be determined to make a go of cattle ranching out there.
** DeterminedHomesteadersWife: Cora, who among other things is determined that Beverly will not have sex with Letty.
* DiscreetDrinkDisposal: Lige, who is trying to make his new wife comfortable, makes coffee. Letty pours hers in an urn. Lige's feelings are hurt further when he finds the coffee in the urn after their confrontation.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Letty dodges Lige even after marrying him. The relationship gets better.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Although the ending rings false; see Revised Ending below.
* FishOutOfWater: Sweet, sheltered Letty is completely unprepared for life out on the plains.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Wirt telling Letty on the train that the never-ending wind drives women mad.
* GoMadFromTheIsolation: Being cooped up in the cabin with only the wind for company affects Letty so badly that she begs to accompany Lige to another homestead even after telling him she doesn't love him. After she winds up getting left alone there with Wirt, she gets even worse.
* IronicName: What would you name a town in the middle of a bone-dry desert that is afflicted by neverending, punishing winds? "Sweet Water", of course.
* KissingCousins: This doesn't happen but Cora is petrified that it will, and Beverly does indeed seem a little too happy about his lovely cousin coming to live with them.
* LettingHerHairDown: Letty during wedding night.
* MeaningfulEcho: "... because I'm your wife -- to work with you -- to love you!
* RapeAsDrama: We don't actually see Wirt rape Letty, but it is very strongly implied.
* RapeDiscretionShot: It was 1928. We see Wirt threatening Letty, and we cut to the next morning where Letty is near-catatonic while a smug Wirt assumes that now she must go away with him.
* RapeLeadsToInsanity: Letty has a breakdown after seeing Wirt's corpse being exposed by the wind.
* RevisedEnding: A HappyEnding imposed by ExecutiveMeddling. The original ending called for Letty to go completely mad and wander out into the wind to die.
* SanitySlippage: Just as Wirt predicted, the wind drives Letty around the bend.
* SympatheticMurderer: Letty.
* TitleDrop: Lots of talk about the wind.
* WomanScorned: Cora. She acts outright hostile towards Letty because of how Letty attracts the attention of Beverly and the kids.
* YouWouldntShootMe: Whoops! Guess again, Wirt.

''The Wind'' (1928), [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on a novel]] by Dorothy Scarborough, was one of the great masterpieces of the late [[SilentAgeOfHollywood silent era]]. Creator/LillianGish plays Letty Mason, a sheltered, naive young woman from Virginia who goes off to live with her (male) cousin Beverly and Beverly's wife Cora on their farm in Sweet Water, in the flatlands of West Texas. On the train, Letty meets and is attracted to a handsome but lecherous man named Wirt Roddy (Montagu Love). Letty does not particularly like Sweet Water: Cora is jealous of her husband's interest in Letty, Letty is not interested in either of the two locals who want to marry her, and worst of all, Sweet Water is in the middle of a desert that is struck with almost unending, constantly blowing wind that Letty finds extremely unsettling.

* MeaningfulEcho: "... because I'm your wife -- to work with you -- to love you --!

* DodgedNiceGuy: Letty dodges Lige even after marrying him. The relationship gets better.

''The Wind'' (1928), [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on a novel]] by Dorothy Scarborough, was one of the great masterpieces of the late silent era. Creator/LillianGish plays Letty Mason, a sheltered, naive young woman from Virginia who goes off to live with her (male) cousin Beverly and Beverly's wife Cora on their farm in Sweet Water, in the flatlands of West Texas. On the train, Letty meets and is attracted to a handsome but lecherous man named Wirt Roddy (Montagu Love). Letty does not particularly like Sweet Water: Cora is jealous of her husband's interest in Letty, Letty is not interested in either of the two locals who want to marry her, and worst of all, Sweet Water is in the middle of a desert that is struck with almost unending, constantly blowing wind that Letty finds extremely unsettling.

* DodgedNiceGuy: Letty dodges Lige even after marrying him. Their realtionship gets better.

* LettingHerHairDown: Letty during wedding night. * DodgedNiceGuy: Letty dodges Lige even after marrying him. Their realtionship gets better.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dcd8e1f8e65187e00fa3d3b4c5b7be01.jpg]]

''The Wind'' (1928), based on a novel by Dorothy Scarborough, was one of the great masterpieces of the late silent era. Creator/LillianGish plays Letty Mason, a sheltered, naive young woman from Virginia who goes off to live with her (male) cousin Beverly and Beverly's wife Cora on their farm in Sweet Water, in the flatlands of West Texas. On the train, Letty meets and is attracted to a handsome but lecherous man named Wirt Roddy (Montagu Love). Letty does not particularly like Sweet Water: Cora is jealous of her husband's interest in Letty, Letty is not interested in either of the two locals who want to marry her, and worst of all, Sweet Water is in the middle of a desert that is struck with almost unending, constantly blowing wind that Letty finds extremely unsettling.

!!Tropes:

* TheFilmOfTheBook

* ThirstyDesert: And really, really windy. Shot on location in the Mojave Desert, with aircraft propellers providing the eponymous wind.

''The Wind'' was Lillian Gish's last silent film and one of her last starring roles. It was inducted into the NationalFilmRegistry in 1993.

* DeterminedHomesteader: Lige, Beverly.
** DeterminedHomesteadersWife: Cora.

* RapeLeadsToInsanity

* TitleDrop
* YouWouldntShootMe: Whoops!

''The Wind'' (1928), based on a novel by Dorothy Scarborough, was one of the great masterpieces of the late silent era. Creator/LillianGish plays Letty Mason, a sheltered, naive young woman from Virginia who goes off to live with her (male) cousin Beverly and Beverly's wife Cora on their farm in the flatlands of West Texas. On the train, Letty meets and is attracted to a handsome but lecherous man named Wirt Roddy (Montagu Love). Letty does not particularly like Sweet Water: Cora is jealous of her husband's interest in Letty, Letty is not interested in either of the two locals who want to marry her, and worst of all, Sweet Water is in the middle of a desert that is struck with almost unending, constantly blowing wind that Letty finds extremely unsettling.

''The Wind'' (1928), based on a novel by Dorothy Scarborough, was one of the great masterpieces of the late silent era. LillianGish plays Letty Mason, a sheltered, naive young woman from Virginia who goes off to live with her (male) cousin Beverly and Beverly's wife Cora on their farm in the flatlands of West Texas. On the train, Letty meets and is attracted to a handsome but lecherous man named Wirt Roddy (Montagu Love). Letty does not particularly like Sweet Water: Cora is jealous of her husband's interest in Letty, Letty is not interested in either of the two locals who want to marry her, and worst of all, Sweet Water is in the middle of a desert that is struck with almost unending, constantly blowing wind that Letty finds extremely unsettling.

* FakeAmerican: Swede Lars Hanson as Lige Hightower. Hanson went back home to Sweden not long after this film as Hollywood transitioned to talkies.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Not released on video since a 1990s VHS edition.

* ProductionPosse: Gish, Hanson, and director Victor Sjostrom had all previously collaborated on a 1926 adaptation of ''TheScarletLetter''.

* GoMadFromTheIsolation: Being cooped up in the cabin with only the wind for company affects Letty so badly that she begs to accompany Lige to another homestead even after telling him she doesn't love him.

''The Wind'' was Lillian Gish's last silent film and one of her last starring roles, and one of the last great films of the silent era. It was inducted into the NationalFilmRegistry in 1993.

''The Wind'' (1928), based on a novel by Dorothy Scarborough, was one of the great masterpieces of the late silent era. Gish plays Letty Mason, a sheltered, naive young woman from Virginia who goes off to live with her (male) cousin Beverly and Beverly's wife Cora on their farm in the flatlands of West Texas. On the train, Letty meets and is attracted to a handsome but lecherous man named Wirt Roddy (Montagu Love). Letty does not particularly like Sweet Water: Cora is jealous of her husband's interest in Letty, Letty is not interested in either of the two locals who want to marry her, and worst of all, Sweet Water is in the middle of a desert that is struck with almost unending, constantly blowing wind that Letty finds extremely unsettling.

* ThirstyDesert: And really, really windy.