History Film / TheWhiteSister

''The White Sister'' is a 1923 silent film starring Creator/LillianGish and Creator/RonaldColman. It was adapted from the F. Marion Crawford novel by the same name, which was previously adapted as a film in 1915 (this version is missing presumed lost). In 1933, the novel received a third adaptation, as a talkie direced by Creator/VictorFleming starring Helen Hayes and Creator/ClarkGable. Additionally, a Mexican version was made in 1960.

''The White Sister'' is a 1923 silent film starring Creator/LillianGish and Creator/RonaldColman. It was adapted from the F. Marion Crawford novel by the same name, which was previously adapted as a film in 1915 (this version is missing presumed lost). In 1933, the novel received a third adaptation, as a talkie starring Helen Hayes and Creator/ClarkGable. Additionally, a Mexican version was made in 1960.

''The White Sister'' is a 1923 silent film starring Creator/LillianGish and Creator/RonaldColman. It was adapted from the F. Marion Crawford novel by the same name, which was previously adapted as a film in 1915. In 1933, the novel received a third adaptation, as a talkie starring Helen Hayes and Creator/ClarkGable. Additionally, a Mexican version was made in 1960.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: The Marchesa. In a DeathbedConfession, she admits that she cheated her sister out of her fortune, and expresses regret for kicking her out of the house. After a moment of struggle, Angela forgives her.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: The Marchesa. In a DeathbedConfession, she admits that she cheated her sister out of her fortune. After a moment of struggle, Angela forgives her.

* SaintlyChurch: The Catholic Church is depicted positively, with no corrupt or unsympathetic characters working for in. In particular, the "marriage to the Church" scene, in which Angela officially becomes a nun, is portrayed with solemn reverence for the rituals taking place.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: The Marchesa.

* ChekhovsVolcano: They didn't spend the beginning of the film talking about Mount Vesuvius for nothing.

Set (and filmed) in Naples, Gish is an Italian aristocrat named Angela Chiaromonte and Colman is the dashing Captain Giovanni Severini. They are very much in love, of course. After the death of Angela's father, Prince Chiaromonte, she is cheated out of her entire inheritance by her jealous half-sister, the Marchesa di Mola. But Angela doesn't care about that as she still has Giovanni. He has to go off on a military expedition to Africa, but she promises to wait for him. When she receives word that he was killed by Arabs, she has a mental breakdown. She recovers in a Catholic hospital run by the "white sisters," a.k.a. nuns. Wanting to give back and not wanting to marry any man other than Giovanni, she decides to become a nun herself. But oops, turns out Giovanni is still alive.

* SaintlyChurch: This film is positively reverential in its attitude towards the Catholic Church.

-->''"I have pledged my word to God! Only He can release me!"''

* GoodShepherd: Monsignor Seracinesca is paternal and understanding, even as he explains that Angela and Giovanni can never be together now that she's a nun.

* ArrangedMarriage: Angela is arranged to marry the son of Count del Ferice. This arrangement is quickly cancelled after it's determined that Prince Chiaromonte's second wife (Angela's mother) was never legally married to him.

* LostWillAndTestament: Following Prince Chiaromonte's death, the Marchesa di Mola burns the will. Combined with the fact that his second marriage, to Angela's mother, is declared legally void, this means the Marchesa gets everything and Angela gets nothing.

* LostWillAndTestament: Following Prince Chiaromonte's death, the Marchesa di Mola burns the will. As the elder sister, she then inherits the estate and is not much for sharing.

* IWillWaitForYou: Angela fully intended to do this, but didn't count on him turning up alive after his supposed death.