Lillian Gish meant to play Gretchen but she dropped out at the last minute and Murnau hired an unknown actress in stead, Camilla Horn.
Now does anyone think Lillian Gish would have done a better job? I know it is difficult to say but I really doubt that anyone could have played the part better than Camilla Horn. She is just fantastic in the role.
- This comment is most likely authentic and fairly close to what I intended to say -
Well, we have always seen the film with Camilla Horn, so it is difficult to imagine another actress in this role. I think she did a good performance, but Lilian Gish is a good actress too, and she could have done something goo too.
- Who is God ?
- When you close your eyes and make a wish, God is the one who doesn't care about.
Well Lillian Gish is well...Lillian Gish, one of the most influential actors of all time, so one can only wonder how it would have been if she played Gretchen. But then now it's been years and I doubt many would give a fuss.
I personally think Camilla Horn was brilliant in the role of a sweet girl corrupted from whore to Madonna on the Stocks to a Jeanne d'Arc figure burning on the stake.
How much is a good nights sleep worth?
Lillian Gish would have been brilliant,no doubt. Having seen Camilla Horn in the role, however, I can't imagine anyone else doing that role in this particular film. Especially when Gretchen's circumstances take the terrible turn for the worse. Camilla is heartbreaking when in the stocks and during the mad scene when she thinks the baby is in a warm cradle.
I know that Emil Jannings gets most of the praise for the acting in this film, but it Camilla Horn's performance that haunts me.