The Wind, 1928

December 30, 2012 3:00 PM

"This is the story of a woman who came in to the domain of the wind." Vento e Areia (The Wind) is a silent film from 1928 with arresting visuals, and a haunting story line about a woman who travels to the windy, desolate prairie land in the middle of America. Via 100 Cinematic Moments.
posted by codacorolla (13 comments total)

Frances Marion, the screenwriter for this movie, was one of the top screenwriters of the 1920s and 1930s, and a founder of the Screenwriters' Guild. Fascinating early Hollywood figure.
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:12 PM on December 30, 2012

While I generally do not approve of ghost horses, those were arresting images. Bravo!
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:46 PM on December 30, 2012

Dorothy Scarborough wrote the novel The Wind.

[SPOILER]

"The book created a furor in Texas when it was published because of its negative portrayal of frontier living conditions on the cattle ranges around Sweetwater in the 1880s. The book was also published anonymously as a publicity ploy. Today, however, many critics regard this novel as a Texas classic, notable for its characterization of a tragic heroine driven to murder and insanity."
posted by chavenet at 4:05 PM on December 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

That film has stuck in my mind ever since I saw it twenty years ago. Extraordinary.
posted by unSane at 4:52 PM on December 30, 2012

Marion was great at adapting novels you wouldn't think would work as movies, let alone silents, into compelling screen stories. The Wind is an interesting book, but really talky; I can't imagine most of the other screenwriters of the era being able to do much with it.

One of the best examples of this gift of Marion's is her screenplay for The Scarlet Letter, also with Victor_Sjöström as the director.
posted by Sidhedevil at 5:12 PM on December 30, 2012 [2 favorites]

In some ways you can see THE WIND as the apotheosis of the silent film. 1928 was the year the talkies won. Most films were still silent, and THE JAZZ SINGER, released the year before, was the first full length sound feature but only had limited synchronized dialogue. But 1928 saw the first full length synchronized dialogue feature LIGHTS OF NEW YORK, plus the sequel to THE JAZZ SINGER with much more sync dialog, plus STEAMBOAT WILLIE, with a fully post-produced soundtrack, plus the first film with a full sound-on-film (as opposed to sound-on-disc) soundtrack. By 1929 the game was up for silent film.
posted by unSane at 6:02 PM on December 30, 2012 [2 favorites]

Why "Vento e Areia"? I've never seen it as anything but "The Wind" before. Is that just the Spanish title, or does it mean something else here?

Also, Lillian Gish has a face I could watch forever.
posted by rodii at 7:35 PM on December 30, 2012

I love this film, and Lillian Gish. Thanks for posting.
posted by Isadorady at 7:36 PM on December 30, 2012

Vento e areia means wind and sand in Portuguese.
posted by umbú at 8:59 PM on December 30, 2012

IMDB says it was released under that title in Brazil, but I can't see why that would be of more importance than any other translated title.
posted by dhartung at 11:43 PM on December 30, 2012

Wow, this was wonderful. I first read about this film many years ago from Lillian Gish's autobiography, The Movies, Mr Griffith and Me, and have always wanted to see it.

Gish was unhappy with the ending. Having finally seen the film, I disagree with her. I think the ending is rather feminist for the times and I prefer it.

Thank so much for posting this.

Oh, and the other film that Sjostrom made with Gish and Lars Hanson, The Scarlet Letter is wonderful and is currently on YouTube also. Highly recommended as well. After reading Ms Gish's bio, I was a fan and back then, it was very difficult to see these films. I remember watching The Scarlet Letter by setting my alarm clock to wake me up at 1 or 2 in the morning (with my mom's permission since I was in high school at the time) so I could catch it on the local PBS channel.
posted by marsha56 at 6:49 AM on December 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

I think we're talking about the Brazilian title because the copy of the film that's up on YouTube was put up by someone from Brazil.
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:46 AM on December 31, 2012 [2 favorites]

Wow, mashing ahoy in the first few minutes. That kinda touching can get a man lynched.
posted by JJ86 at 8:07 AM on December 31, 2012