Way Down East (1920)

In D.W. Griffith's silent melodrama, subtitled "A Simple Story of Plain People", with a spiritually-affecting performance by Lillian Gish:

• the setting - a remote village in New England, where young Anna Moore (Lillian Gish) lived with her poor mother (Mrs. David Landau); the innocent young country girl departed to live with her rich (and condescending) relatives in Boston, the Tremonts; there, Anna met the "dashing" Lennox Sanderson (Lowell Sherman), who reportedly had three specialties: "ladies - Ladies - and LADIES"

Three Major Characters
Anna Moore (Lillian Gish)	Lennox Sanderson (Lowell Sherman)	David Bartlett (Richard Barthelmess)

• near the country estate of the Sanderson family was Bartlett Village, where 21 year-old daydreaming son David Bartlett (Richard Barthelmess) lived with his Puritanical parents
• during the Tremont's grand social ball, Anna's appearance and "delicate beauty [is] a whip to Sanderson's jaded appetite" - the callous city playboy quickly flattered her beauty, and became "obsessed by a new desire" for Anna
• Sanderson lured Anna to his apartment under false pretenses, and made a physical advance, followed by a marriage proposal ("I want you to - to marry me"); Anna reacted ecstatically to the proposal, soon followed by the revelation that her marriage to him as "husband" was only a faked and mock ceremony
• after their sham "marriage," their horse-drawn carriage took them for their honeymoon to their "bridal suite at Rose Tree Inn" where he seduced and despoiled her (off-screen) in the bedroom
• shortly later, Anna returned home (keeping her marriage a "great secret") with promises from Sanderson to visit; she was finally able to reveal to him that she was pregnant - and that their secret marriage had to be revealed; he demanded: "You musn't tell anyone!" and then admitted to her the truth about their sham marriage: "Well - if you must know the truth - because we aren't married at all!"; at first, she thought that he must be joking; she held out her ring (in a necklace around her neck) and blurted out - "WE MUST be married - see-see- our ring!", he pushed her away and then when she became hysterical, he coldly told her: "For Heaven's sake, don't make a scene! I'll let you have lots of money and you can go away"; the duplicitious scoundrel Sanderson abandoned her - walking out on her, and forcing Anna to reveal her situation to her mother

Anna's Revelation to Sanderson That She Was Pregnant With His Child	Sanderson: "Well - if you must know the truth - because we aren't married at all!"
Anna Became Hysterical	Sanderson: "Don't make a scene!"

• soon after, Anna's mother died, and she had to hide herself "away with her shame" in the village of Belden; she gave birth to a nameless, illegitimate baby that was very sick; her stern-faced Belden landlady Maria Poole (Emily Fitzroy) reminded Anna that if the baby died without being baptized, it would never see God
• in one of the film's most emotionally and poignantly-acted scenes, fearing for her baby's soul, Anna held her dying baby close to her breast as she performed the sacred ritual and baptized it - just before it died in her arms ("the little hands grow cold upon her breast")
• now ostracized and without work, Anna arrived at the Bartlett home to find work; the religious and kind Mrs. Bartlett (Kate Bruce) took pity on her and gave her refuge as a serving girl; then in an awkward situation, she found herself face-to-face with her former "husband" Sanderson; threatened by the awkward coincidence, he immediately asked her to leave because his estate was nearby; although Anna wanted to leave immediately, son David persuaded her to stay and she soon became a beloved member of the Bartlett family; David slowly began to fall in love with Anna ("David [was] thrilled with the thought that she is the virginal white flower of his dreams")
• they experienced an innocent love scene by the river together, accompanied by the title card: "One heart for one heart, One soul for one soul, One love for one love, Even through Eternity" - Anna was reluctant to fall in love with David when reminded of the "stark ghosts of her past" - she sadly could not allow him to say such things (he told her he loved her), feeling unworthy of him due to her checkered past: "So she tells him he must never speak like this again"

Anna Reluctant to Fall In Love With David, Who Loved Her

• in town, Anna's former landlady Maria Poole from Belden recognized the wayward girl, and then whispered the evil story of Anna's past life to Martha Perkins, the town's gossip; meanwhile, the dastardly Sanderson again became worried about Anna's presence, and demanded that she leave: ("Suppose they find out about your past life? You'd have to get out then!"); Anna reminded him of the double-standard: "Suppose they find out about YOUR past life!"; Sanderson was uncaring: "Oh, it's different with a MAN! He's supposed to sow his wild oats"
• the news of Anna's past reached the Bartlett family; at the same time, David confessed his love to her: ("I love you! I want you to be my wife"); shamed by her past, Anna told David: "I can never be ANY MAN'S WIFE!"; when the scandalous tale of Anna's unwed pregnancy and baby was confirmed, she was condemned as a fallen woman by David's prudish, self-righteous father, Squire Bartlett (Burr McIntosh)

Anna's Casting Out Into the Blizzard by Squire Bartlett, But Not Before She Denounced Sanderson as a Scoundrel

• during a classic casting-out scene, Anna was thrown out of the house by Squire Bartlett: ("She ain't fit to be here! She's the mother of a baby - but she ain't got - NO HUSBAND!"); David was incensed and crazed by the incomprehensible accusation, but Anna confirmed that it was true, but then denounced Sanderson before leaving: ("You found out so much! Why didn't you find out the whole truth? That I was an ignorant girl betrayed through a mock marriage. (Pointing at Sanderson) This man - an honored guest at your table - why don't you find out what HIS life has been? For HE is the man who betrayed me!")
• in the final sequence, Anna departed and entered into a fierce, freezing snowstorm-blizzard; the finale was Anna's daring, last-minute rescue by David from floating ice floes that were perilously close to a precipitous waterfall; he nimbly jumped from ice block to ice block to try to reach her before the ice jam gave way - rushing to the falls. As Anna regained consciousness after falling exhausted, she started to sink into the frigid water at the edge of the falls; David scooped her up and saved her, running perilously upstream on unstable blocks of ice to reach the shore

Anna Lying On a Floating Block of Ice

Anna Saved by David By Scooping Her Up

Anna Carried to the Shore

• David warmed Anna in a nearby sugar shack, and soon after when the family gathered together, the Squire asked forgiveness and Anna obliged; Anna rejected Sanderson's conciliatory offer of marriage, while David claimed Anna as his bride and they were married with others in a triple wedding ceremony as the film concluded