Lillian Gish’s Scottish Adventure
I had seen the MGM 1927 production of Annie Laurie starring Lillian Gish probably on TCM a few years ago so it was nice to catch up with it once again with Kino Lorber’s 2024 Blu-ray release. Thought lost at one point, the film was rediscovered in the 1970s. It found its way to the Library of Congress, which did the restoration.
This was the third film made by Lillian Gish at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Like her previous two films La Boheme and The Scarlet Letter, the studio went all out on this story of late 17th century Scottish history, the Massacre of Glencoe between the MacDonald and Campbell Clans. Now, I don’t know much about Scottish history but I do know when Hollywood gets involved, the real history tends to fall by the wayside so better to just enjoy the story you get. Even the poem about a man’s love for Annie Laurie (who apparently was a real person), and a century later a ballad that was very popular in the 1830s-1840s have little to do with the storyline of this film.
The story has Annie Laurie finding herself in the middle of two feuding clans. The Campbells (headed by Brandon Hurst) and the MacDonalds (headed by a big-bearded Hobart Bosworth). The heir to the Campbell Clan Donald Campbell (Creighton Hale) is very attentive to Annie but once she meets Ian MacDonald (Norman Kerry) its clear who will win her heart. King William III wants the clans to quit feuding and try diplomacy. The Campbells only pretend to be sincere and plan a deadly attack on the MacDonald castle. Only Annie can save the MacDonalds. She races to the top of a mountain, to light a fire to call the whole MacDonald Clan to arms.
Gish really was queen of the MGM lot. She had a lot of input on her films —- the choice of projects, of her leading men and her directors. But she admits in her autobiography The Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me that she didn’t spend much time preparing for this film. We know she wanted Norman Kerry for her leading man even though the studio wasn’t that keen on the actor. Although her name is above the title the film just doesn’t feel like a Lillian Gish film; she’s kind of overwhelmed by all that testosterone. Don’t get me wrong — she’s wonderful as Annie. She’s flirtatious, a bit rebellious, and quite beautiful in all that tartan plaid. And of course there’s tragedy and that dash to the top of a frozen mountain for good measure.
Besides Lillian Gish the film co-stars Norman Kerry who co-starred in some of the grandest silent films that have come down to us today: Lon Chaney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera and The Unknown, and von Stroheim’s The Merry Go Round. Some have said Annie Laurie has Kerry’s best performance but all of Kerry’s performances are about the same to me — I haven’t quite found the nuance yet in his acting. But he looks good in a kilt and does a lot of manly things and, most importantly, has good chemistry with his leading lady. Creighton Hale, who’d been in films since the ‘Perils of Pauline’ days, played many different kinds of roles in his career; here he starts out a little comically trying to woo Annie only to turn nasty when he realizes he’s going to lose out to big, strapping Kerry. One of my favorite actors from this era is Hobart Bosworth who is hardly recognizable as the MacDonald Chieftain. He has a small part but I’m always glad to see him.
Annie Laurie is the first of Ms. Gish’s MGM films that got mixed reviews and didn’t do well at the box office. Seen today, it has all the MGM quality you would expect to see, a great cast and an interesting storyline. The restoration certainly presents all that in an attractive package.
