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Way Down East

Play trailer Poster for Way Down East 1920,  2h 25m,  Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist 96% 24 Reviews Tomatometer 70% 1,000+ Ratings Popcornmeter
96% Tomatometer 24 Reviews 70% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
An unwed mother (Lillian Gish) is abandoned, then banished in a blizzard and set adrift on ice floes.

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Way Down East

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Rent Way Down East on Prime Video, or buy it on Prime Video.

Critics Reviews

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Ruth Boyle New York Daily News Sep 13, 2021
Way Down East is a beautiful and satisfying picture. Go to Full Review
Variety Staff Variety Mar 26, 2009
With the gathering together of a relatively small cast and less than half a dozen stellar film artists, D.W. has taken a simple, elemental, old-fashioned, bucolic melodrama and milked it for 12 reels of absorbing entertainment. Go to Full Review
Tony Rayns Time Out Jan 26, 2006
[Lillian Gish's] virtuoso performance makes the heroine's growth from gullible innocence to bitter experience credible. Go to Full Review
W. Stephen Bush Billboard Mar 16, 2023
Mr. Griffith has the eye of a landscape painter of the first flight. Go to Full Review
Mike Massie Gone With The Twins Sep 22, 2022
9/10
An epic romance (with an epic runtime, which hurts the pacing now and then), containing striking imagery, colorful characters, and heartfelt interactions. Go to Full Review
Carl Sandburg Chicago Daily News Dec 14, 2021
In point of acting, photography and sustained dramatic interest, however, this is fully up to what Griffith has done before this. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Finn W Jan 15, 2018 1001 movies to see before you die. Good, but not great. Amazing to have had them take on the issues of having children out of wedlock and the gossip that follows people around. A bit long though. See more
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Way Down East

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Cast & Crew

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D.W. Griffith

Director

Lillian Gish

Anna Moore

Richard Barthelmess

David Bartlett

Lowell Sherman

Lennox Sanderson

Burr McIntosh

Squire Bartlett

Creighton Hale

The Professor

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Way Down East

Way Down East (1920) Way Down East (1920) Way Down East (1920) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis An unwed mother (Lillian Gish) is abandoned, then banished in a blizzard and set adrift on ice floes.
Director
D.W. Griffith
Producer
D.W. Griffith
Screenwriter
D.W. Griffith, Joseph R. Grismer, Anthony Paul Kelly
Distributor
United Artists
Production Co
D.W. Griffith Productions
Genre
Drama
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 3, 1920, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 11, 2016
Runtime
2h 25m
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