Have you heard the one about the traveling salesman?

The Wind (1928)
Saturday July 11, 7:30pm, The Castro

"Wind … sand … sand …wind … yesterday …tomorrow … forever … "

A young woman travels West to live with her cousin in the harsh Texas desert. Letty (Lillian Gish) meets Wirt Roddy (Montague Love) on the train and develops a friendship with the salesman. Upon her arrival, Letty is seen as a threat by her cousin’s wife, and is forced from their home. With no means of support, she marries Lige (Lars Hanson), a man she does not love, after learning that Wirt has a wife, and suffocating reality slowly leads to enveloping madness, like the blowing sand that penetrates every part of Letty’s existence.

Brilliantly adapted from the Dorothy Scarboroough novel by Francis Marion, The Wind (1928) marked the pinnacle of Victor Seastrom’s Hollywood career. A dark and brooding study of "mental landscapes" selected by Miss Gish, The Wind is arguably, her finest performance on film. Even MGM’s compulsory happy ending does little to diminish its withering impact and fascinating background.

Wirt and Letty

Now this, is showbiz! The best of the best...
The 14th Annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival presents Victor Seastrom’s torrid western masterpiece The Wind, with live musical accompaniment performed on the Castro Theater’s 4/21 Wurlitzer by the greatest silent film organist on the planet, Dennis James.