Broken Blossoms (1919)

Must See Movie...

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Another Griffith's melodrama! It was so hard to get to the end that full of madness film. Even, if its director made lots of interesting films, masterpieces, this, was completely not worth it. Storyline is quite poor. F.e we don't know much about main character's mother. All we can see, is pathology in family. And at the end of film we don't exactly know the reason why the girl ends like that. Also acting is terrible! Especcialy the moves of Donald Crisp are so so cheap or even weird. Lillian Gish is OK, but she is always sad so we can't rate her acting at all. And of course 'the Chinese Guy' who isn't even Asian- he don't shows us nothing special. I saw also, a few completely unnecessary shots- film was too long. ,,Broken Blossoms'' action moves on in the end, in the beginning there was nothing but cruelness. The last thing that shocked me.. main sick love of 20 (or more) year old guy to girl who was a innocent child- the way he looked at her was awful..

. . . who needs enemies? Actress Lillian Gish as the London waterfront motherless waif Lucy, a.k.a. The Girl, is constantly begging her brain-damaged-from-boxing dad NOT to whip her to death, saying in the same breath (subtitled, of course) that he might hang if he does her in (boxing has been known for centuries to cause its adherents to do irrational things, such as practicing public cannibalism and demanding facial tattoos). Taking advantage of the mentally deficient father, a possibly illegal immigrant installs the under-aged female in a love nest above his specialty shop on the sly. The hatred of Londoners for off-islanders can be traced back at least as far as the Roman Invasion, so it is no surprise that Lucy's smashed-noggin father is crazed when he finds out what an older man who should have known better has done with his under-appreciated offspring (a real workhorse around his squalid flat; you never value what you have until it's gone). The addled brained dad quickly whips his daughter to death, and the alleged Buddhist pacifist missionary grabs his revolver (!!) and does in the dad before killing himself. For those of you born AFTER director D.W.Griffith foisted BIRTH OF A NATION & BROKEN BLOSSOMS upon America, it is important to remember that he cut his movie-making teeth (beginning in 1908 on RESCUED FROM AN EAGLE'S NEST) at the notoriously wrong-headed, racist, and obstructionist Edison Manufacturing movie making muck hole.

Broken Blossoms is arguably the best film that D. W. Griffith made. Although it is a silent film, it has an engaging story that does not suffer from a lack of dialogue. Furthermore, unlike Birth of a Nation, it has a message of racial tolerance that still resonates today.The film follows the course of a man from China who travels to the West. Perhaps because of the controversy surrounding Birth of a Nation, Griffith goes out of his way to depict the immigrant in a positive manner. Unlike the story it is based on, in which the immigrant is a typical dissipated sailor, Broken Blossoms has its protagonist come to the West in order to spread the peace and good will of Buddhism. Indeed, all the European characters, with the exception of Lillian Gish, come across as savages compared to him.Broken Blossoms benefits from several good performances. Although she is rather old for her role, Lillian Gish manages to convey a sense of innocence and vulnerability. Donald Crisp is suitably intimidating as her abusive boxer father.The film also deserves kudos for being well ahead of its time. Not only does it have a relatively progressive stance on race and immigration (keep in mind the Chinese were barred from immigrating to America at this time), but it also deals with issues of child abuse. The depictions of Crisp's attacks on Gish are genuinely harrowing, with at least one scene seeming to imply that sexual abuse is going on.For all its good points, the film has some flaws. Although Griffith specifically called for color tinting to be added to the film, it seems more a distraction then a benefit. Furthermore, the use of a non-Asian actor, Richard Barthelmess, to portray the immigrant is embarrassing in hindsight, and undermines the film's overall message of tolerance. Nevertheless, Broken Blossoms is still a film masterpiece that is well worth seeing even ninety years after it was made.

Melodramatic and beautiful story for the contrast position of Evil and Good in life, for innocence and brutality. it's really heart touching and affecting of feelings. The characters are clear and have strong expression of faces and gestures, as in all early silent movie from this century. Griffit wants to go deep inside the heart of the man who watch, and show him the reality as it is, bringing out to light the beauty of the White blossom of innocence. This blossom is kept inside the poor girl, who wanted to escape from her tyrannic father, and also in the heart of the young Yellow man from China, who traveled away from his country just to bring peace on earth. They are like one heart divided on two persons. They are the face of serenity, beauty and peace, symbol of the eternal good. The father, who return into brutal killer represents the hidden Evil in days and ages of misery. He is shown with the real face of monster ,who never stop to drink and beat his only daughter. His has no purpose in life, than boxing and brutality against everyone. The dead of the pure "white blossom" girl, brings tears in eyes, because it's so real, even in dramatic way, it represents the high reality. All movie is in scenes, with little like theater decor and black and white views look like moving photography. That's the charm and sense of the old cinema of 20s.