Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl (1919)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Writers:

Thomas Burke (story)
D.W. Griffith (writer)

Release Date:

1922 (Poland)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A frail waif, abused by her brutish boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.

Plot Keywords:

Father | London | China | Storekeeper | Chinese

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Lillian Gish	...	Lucy Burrows (as Miss Lillian Gish)
Richard Barthelmess	...	Cheng Huan (as Mr. Richard Barthelmess)
Donald Crisp	...	Battling Burrows
Arthur Howard	...	Burrows' manager
Edward Peil Sr.	...	Evil Eye (as Edward Peil)
George Beranger	...	The Spying One
Norman Selby	...	A prizefighter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ernest Butterworth	...	(uncredited)
Fred Hamer	...	(uncredited)
Wilbur Higby	...	London policeman (uncredited)
Moon Kwan	...	Buddhist monk (uncredited)
George Nichols	...	(uncredited)
Karla Schramm	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
D.W. Griffith

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Thomas Burke		story "The Chink and the Child"
D.W. Griffith		writer

Produced by
D.W. Griffith	....	producer

Cinematography by
G.W. Bitzer

Film Editing by
James Smith		(uncredited)

Art Department
Joseph Stringer	....	set builder (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Hendrik Sartov	....	visual effects (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Karl Brown	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Music Department
David Cullen	....	orchestrator (1983 version)
Carl Davis	....	conductor (1983 re-release)
Carl Davis	....	music adaptor (1983 re-release)
Carl Davis	....	music arranger (1983 re-release)
Louis F. Gottschalk	....	music arranger (uncredited)

Other crew
James B. Leong	....	interpreter: Chinese (uncredited)

Production Companies

• D.W. Griffith Productions
• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• United Artists (1919) (USA) (theatrical)
• Universum Film (UFA) (1923) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (1989) (USA) (VHS)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (1992) (USA) (VHS)
• Kino Video (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Kino Video (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Kino Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (worldwide) (VHS)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Grapevine Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• Sfinks (1922) (Poland) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

Broken Blossoms (USA) (short title)
Scarlet Blossoms
The Chink and the Child
Eine Blüte gebrochen (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Gebrochene Blüten (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Giglio infranto (Italy) [it]
Im Schatten der Großstadt - Aus dem Chinesenviertel von San Francisco (Austria) [de]
Katkenneita kukkasia (Finland) [fi]
Kirik tomurcuklar (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Lírio Partido (Brazil) [pt]
La culpa ajena (Spain) [es]
Le lys brisé (France) [fr]
Lirios rotos (Spain) [es]
O Lírio Quebrado (Portugal) [pt]
Poncelles trencades (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Spasmeno krino (Greece) [el]
Zlamana lilia (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White (tinted screen)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Fine Arts Studios - 4516 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

D.W. Griffith Productions

Trivia:

While filming the closet scene, Lillian Gish's performance of pure terror was so realistic that D.W. Griffith was compelled to shout back at her and urge her further. A passerby heard this going on and, convinced that something terrible was going on, had to be restrained from entering the studio.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The intertitles state, "The Buddha says, 'What thou dost not want others to do thee, do thou not to others.'" It was actually not the Buddha but Confucius' teaching.

Quotes:

Narrator: Above all, Battling hates those not born in the same great country as himself.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Concerto Macabre: The Films of John Brahm (2007) (V)

Surprising, Typical Melodrama

'Broken Blossoms' is uncharacteristically depressing for a film by D.W. Griffith. He had produced many melodramas before, but this one is overwhelmingly saddening and tragic. It is something of a landmark in that respect. Additionally, perhaps, in part, because of its precedence in cinéma, the film somehow overcomes the flaws inherit in the tradition.

Richard Barthelmess plays a Chinaman whose mission of teaching Anglo-Saxons the gentle ways of Buddhism is lost, as he becomes a shopkeeper in misty Limehouse, spending his days smoking opium and admiring an abused teenage girl (Lillian Gish) from afar. Griffith's adaptation certainly ennobles the "yellow man" in comparison to the more human portrayal, which might be subject to accusations of racism towards an author, in Thomas Burke's original story, and there's much to contrast in this film with the conversely offensive racial representations in 'The Birth of a Nation,' as well. Gish's character is also sanitized. Much of the sex in the original story is lost as a result, which might be as much because of Griffith's distaste of miscegenation than with his timidity to project such subject matter. Attraction towards, or love for, a virginal, pubescent girl, on the other hand, is a reoccurring theme in his films. Nevertheless, the subject matter, I suppose, remained rather provocative for its day and medium.

The story is centred on its characters, and thus it's instrumental that the performances are great, and Barthelmess and Gish are affecting. Gish is especially saddening and pathetic, and even Donald Crisp does well enough and is, appropriately, terribly detestable. In the beginning, yellow tinting helps convince viewers to accept the Caucasian Barthelmess as a "yellow man." Although in one scene in particular his eyes are too open, the deception is generally acceptable enough. Additionally, some extreme close-ups add greatly to the performances of the two leads.

Everything in the film seems aimed towards creating mood, including, in addition to the acting, the intertitles, photography, sets and tinting. The film turns very dark in its later parts: in its melodrama, tinting and lighting. 'Broken Blossoms' takes place entirely within the confines of studio sets. They are well designed and atmospheric--creating the milieu for the picture. 'Billy' Bitzer's photography is brilliant in a similar vein. With the aid of Hendrik Sartov's visual effects, Griffith and Bitzer sharpen, blur and gloss over images and cast and lift shadows on command. The silhouette shots are also worth mentioning. This is a different style for Griffith, and it's one of the best examples of the visual stylization mainstream American films were developing at the time and thereafter.

The intertitles are often too corny and too plentiful, and the melodrama seems ready at anytime to teeter over into annoying sentiment, but the mastery of the filmmakers continue to keep it afloat. It is both familiar and new ground in cinéma. I'm surprised how well this film works.