Lillian Gish is a Virginia belle who moves to Texas and slowly begins to lose her mind due to, you guessed it, the incessant wind storms, not to mention the loves, lusts and jealousies of the local residents.
Gish delivers the finest performance of her career as a woman whose fragile sanity is under constant attack. Lars Hanson is equally stunning as her cowpoke husband who is much, much smarter and more perceptive than he looks..
Moody, gripping, suspenseful, it uses the full range of the silent film language. See at all costs.
How does it end? Hover or tap below for a spoiler.
Gish shoots the man who attacks her and loses her grasp of reality. However, Hanson shows up in time to save her sanity and they enjoy a happy ending. Or do they?Read my full-length review here.
You can also read my examination of the oft-repeated story that a different ending was forced on the film in post-production.
If it were a dessert it would be: Flourless Chocolate Cake. Pure ingredients, intense flavor, a dark dessert for grown-ups. And my favorite.
Availability: This film has not been released on DVD in the USA, only on VHS.
☙❦❧
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Movies Silently 
I have a conspiracy theory: there must have been multiple Lars Hansons. Otherwise it isn’t possible to explain how his face looks so different in different movies and can change also within a movie. All those faces look natural and charismatic, but they act differently, although always very well.
Quite possible. Such a versatile fellow.
Actors are sometimes classified either as stars or character actors. Stars mainly repeat variations of the same role, which is close to their own charismatic personality. Character actors are usually used in supporting roles, and their roles vary much more. On the other hand, their acting often feels like acting, there is more make-up etc. (I think this is the case also for Lon Chaney and Emil Jannings who played leading roles, too.)
Lars Hanson was versatile in star-like acting, which is very rare, and could also play like in a supporting role as in The Wind until his wedding. He is my favourite male silent actor. He is poorly represented on home media, and I have unfortunately not been able to see Scarlet Letter.
I highly recommend The Scarlet Letter if you like Hanson. He is even better there. Yet another treasure not on home media, alas.
Just to clear the air on The Wind.This film has been on a “legitimate” disc in USA. MGM Home Video issued this on LaserDisc coupled with James Murray in The Crowd. They might have been part of the Thames Silents series. I do have this set buried somewhere in my collection and probably can’t play now. I liked both films and long for a Blu Ray release, perhaps with those UK scores attached. I regret not getting tickets to see Miss Gish when she made a talk tour of Australia towards the end of her life. I know a former friend went and thoroughly enjoyed it. This was at the Melbourne Town(City) Hall downtown which I went passed in a streetcar(tram to us) yesterday. :Like the City streets there were few on the tram because of the current problems.
I mean, it may have had a Betamax release too and a 9.5mm release as well but I only deal in relatively mainstream home media editions.
It can also be viewed online at: [link redacted]. You moderated away my previous post about this. If this is such a must see, why would you ignore this?!
I am not ignoring it. I do not allow any comments that include links to copyrighted films. I don’t make the laws but I sure as hell am not going to throw myself on my sword so commenters can post links to pirated content, especially since regulations surrounding that sort of thing have tightened.
You wrote: “I do not allow any comments that include links to copyrighted films.”
Do you actually know if they bothered to renew the copyright, or are you just assuming? The odds are good that it is in the public domain. That aside, it is news to me that you can get in trouble for posting a link. If that is so, perhaps you can get in trouble for noting that “pirated” copies exist. You called this a must see. Is that encouraging illegal activity? Where does the absurdity end?
Someone took debate in high school, I see.
No, the odds are zero that The Wind is in the public domain. The copyright was renewed in 1956 and it will not enter the public domain until at least 2023, assuming that The Mouse doesn’t extend copyright laws again to protect Steamboat Willy (also released in 1928).
You are demanding a platform on a site that I own and operate in order to link to an illegal copy of a copyrighted work. There are quite literally dozens of films I consider to be “must-sees” that are not yet available to the public. I am trying to encourage legal releases where I can and am actually facilitating releases myself in other cases.
This conversation is over. Good day.
Thanks for the review. This and The Scarlet letter are two of my least liked Sjostrom films. I recommend others in front of this one if you want to see some amazing movie making. Phantom Carriage, and later, He Who Gets Slapped are masterpieces. “He” is one of my favorite Lon Chaney movies. Other than “He..”, I think his American work is not as good as the Swedish work. That’s just my opinion. Keep up the great stuff, Fritzi!
Does someone have any ideas why we don’t have a nice restaured 2K bluray of this masterwork ?
Alas, I do not.