"Annie Laurie" (1927)

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Out Yonder 1919 The Woman God Forgot 1917 That Model from Paris 1926 For Better for Worse 1919 Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall 1924

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Lillian-Gish-and-Norman-Kerry-in-Annie-Laurie-director-John-S-Robertson-1927-00

Norman Kerry and Lillian Gish

Directed by    John S. Robertson
Produced by    MGM
Written by     Josephine Lovett
Starring    Lillian Gish, Norman Kerry, Creighton Hale, Patricia Avery, Brandon Hurst
Cinematography     Oliver Marsh
Editing by William Hamilton
Distributed by        MGM
Release date      May 11, 1927
Running time    99 minutes
Country     US
Language Silent film

We have included this film in our program to illustrate the work and contributions of our star director John S. Robertson.

This film is part of our Silent Gems Collection and the DVD is available on Ebay.

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This film is part of our series 'Hidden Gems'. It can be watched by registered users who make a donation. For more details, please click here.

"Annie Laurie" is a powerful historical drama superbly directed by John Robertson starring Lillian Gish and Norman Kerry. This is the first of three outstanding films created by John Robertson in 1927, when he started working for MGM. The other two are "Captain Salvation" and "The Road to Romance", both starring Marceline Day.

The film tells the story of the feud between two Scottish clans - Campbell and MacDonald - and its tragic climax in the Massacre of Glencoe.

PLEASE NOTE:

The review posted below contains spoilers, so you may want to skip it if you intend to watch the whole film.

Annie Laurie (Lillian Gish) is close to the Campbells, where her cousin Enid (Patricia Avery) urges her to marry her brother Donald (Creighton Hale). Both girls regard the men from the enemy clan as savages, but one day Enid is captured by MacDonald warriors and taken away. When the two clans meet to negotiate, to everybody's astonishment Enid refuses to return home, declaring that she is in love with a MacDonald man. The chieftain of the Campbells (Brandon Hurst) curses his daughter and wishes her and her future children gloom and doom for the whole crowd to see.

Annie Laurie later meets Ian MacDonald (Norman Kerry) and in spite of her prejudice is conquered by his strength and personality. The two fall in love, but unlike Enid Annie hesitates and refuses to follow Ian, who is then brutally tortured by Donald Campbell and his soldiers.

In the meantime the chieftain of the Campbells plays a successful mind game against his enemies. He does not disclose to them the terms of the agreement proposed by the king, according to which the MacDonald clan will recover all its lands if they sign by January 1st. However, if MacDonald refuses to sign, as happens in reality, the king has authorized the Campbell chieftain to annihilate his enemies.

Annie Laurie learns about this clause and makes a desperate effort to warn Ian MacDonald, whom she still loves, and save his people. Ian, however, holds such a grudge that he won't listen to Annie, gets drunk and ridicules her. Somehow she is able to get her message across, and Ian dashes through a storm to sign the agreement, but is five days late.

Donald Campbell accepts in words that the delay is due to the storm, but has something sinister in mind, knowing that the king will not punish him for exterminating the enemy clan for being late. When the MacDonalds open their castle of Glencoe to the Campbells to celebrate the signed peace with them, Donald kills the chieftain of the hosts and leads an attack to annihilate the whole MacDonald clan. Ian organizes a heroic resistance, in which he is helped by Annie, who manages to light the beacon and call for help. With Ian MacDonald in the lead the defenders counterattack and defeat their double-crossing enemies.

In the end the victorious MacDonalds recover all their lands and property by decree of the king. Annie Laurie parts with her father and happily follows Ian MacDonald.

Click to enlarge:

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Norman Kerry

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Below is a short preview of the film.