Orphans of the Storm is a 1921 American silent drama film by D. W. Griffith set in late-18th-century France, before and during the French Revolution. The last Griffith film to feature both Lillian and Dorothy Gish, it was a commercial failure, following box-office hits such as The Birth of a Nation and Broken Blossoms. Like his earlier films, Griffith used historical events to comment on contemporary events, in this case the French Revolution to warn about the rise of Bolshevism. The film is about class conflict and a plea for inter-class understanding and against destructive hatred. At one point, in front of the Committee of Public Safety, a main character pleads, “Yes I am an aristocrat, but a friend of the people.” The film is based on the 1874 French play Les Deux Orphelines by Adolphe d’Ennery and Eugène Cormon.

Plot

Two orphaned sisters are caught up in the turmoil of the French Revolution, encountering misery and love along the way.