Mimi and RodoIphe's tragic love has been immortalized as a noveI, a play, a Puccini opera, the inspiration for Broadway's Rent and in film - incIuding this superb version. King Vidor (The Big Parade) directs two of the greatest stars of the siIent-film era: Lillian Gish, fraiI and loveIy as Mimi, and John Gilbert, all artistic fire as the aspiring playwright RodoIphe. Living in the Bohemian district of 1830 Paris, the two suffer through poverty, jeaIousy and heartbreaking separation. The peerless Gish brought conviction to Mimi's death scene by refusing water for three days, displaying the dedication that helped the actress create "one of her most affecting portrayaIs of tremulous pathos" (John Douglas Eames, The MGM Story). |