Broken Blossoms film wikipedia pages

Broken Blossoms

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Jump to: navigation, search

For the 1936 film, see Broken Blossoms (1936 film).

Broken Blossoms
Brokenblossoms.jpg
DVD cover

Directed by
D. W. Griffith
Produced by
D. W. Griffith
Written by
Thomas Burke
D. W. Griffith
Starring
Lillian Gish
Richard Barthelmess
Donald Crisp
Cinematography
G.W. Bitzer
Editing by
James Smith
Distributed by
United Artists
Release date(s)
May 13, 1919
Running time
90 minutes
Country
United States
Language
Silent film
 English intertitles
Budget
$88,000 (estimated)
Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl is a 1919 silent film directed by D.W. Griffith. It was distributed by United Artists and premiered on May 13, 1919. It stars Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess and Donald Crisp, and tells the story of young girl, Lucy Burrows, who is abused by her alcoholic prizefighting father, Battling Burrows, and meets Cheng Huan, a kind-hearted Chinese man who falls in love with her. It is based on Thomas Burke's short story "The Chink and the Child" from the 1916 collection Limehouse Nights.


Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production and style
4 Reception
5 Themes
6 The 'closet scene'
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]



 Lucy (Lillian Gish) and Cheng (Richard Barthelmess)
Cheng Huan (Richard Barthelmess) leaves his native China because he "dreams to spread the gentle message of Buddha to the Anglo-Saxon lands." His idealism fades as he is faced with the brutal reality of London's gritty inner-city. However, his mission is finally realized in his devotion to the "broken blossom" Lucy Burrows (Lillian Gish), the beautiful but unwanted and abused daughter of boxer Battling Burrows (Donald Crisp).
After being beaten and discarded one evening by her raging father, Lucy finds sanctuary in Cheng's home, the beautiful and exotic room above his shop. As Cheng nurses Lucy back to health, the two form a bond as two unwanted outcasts of society. All goes astray for them when Lucy's father gets wind of his daughter's whereabouts and in a drunken rage drags her back to their home to punish her. Fearing for her life, Lucy locks herself inside a closet to escape her contemptuous father.
By the time Cheng arrives to rescue Lucy, whom he so innocently adores, it is too late. Lucy's lifeless body lies on her modest bed as Battling has a drink in the other room. As Cheng gazes at Lucy's youthful face which, in spite of the circumstances, beams with innocence and even the slightest hint of a smile, Battling enters the room to make his escape. The two stand for a long while, exchanging spiteful glances, until Battling lunges for Cheng with a hatchet, and Cheng retaliates by shooting Burrows repeatedly with his handgun. After returning to his home with Lucy's body, Cheng builds a shrine to Buddha and takes his own life with a knife to the stomach.
Cast[edit]
Lillian Gish as Lucy Burrows
Richard Barthelmess as Cheng Huan
Donald Crisp as Battling Burrows
Arthur Howard as Burrows' manager
Edward Peil Sr. as Evil Eye
George Beranger as The Spying One
Norman Selby as A prizefighter
Production and style[edit]
Unlike Griffith's more extravagant earlier works like The Birth of a Nation or Intolerance, Broken Blossoms is a small-scale film that uses controlled studio environments to create a more intimate effect.
Griffith was known for his willingness to collaborate with his actors and on many occasions join them in research outings.[1][2]
The visual style of Broken Blossoms emphasises the seedy Limehouse streets with their dark shadows, drug addicts and drunkards, contrasting them with the beauty of Cheng and Lucy's innocent attachment as expressed by Cheng's decorative apartment. Conversely, the Burrows' bare cell reeks of oppression and hostility. Film critic and historian Richard Schickel goes so far as to credit this gritty realism with inspiring "the likes of Pabst, Stiller, von Sternberg, and others, [and then] re-emerging in the United States in the sound era, in the genre identified as Film Noir".[3]
Griffith was unsure of his final product and took several months to complete the editing saying "I can't look at the damn thing; it depresses me so."[4]
Reception[edit]
Broken Blossoms premiered in May 1919, at the George M. Cohan Theatre in New York City as part of the D.W. Griffith Repertory Season.[5] According to Lillian Gish's autobiography, theaters were decorated with flowers, moon lanterns and beautiful Chinese brocaded draperies for the premiere. Critics and audiences were pleased with Griffith's follow-up film to his 1916 epic Intolerance.[6] Contrasting with Intolerance's grand story, set and length, Griffith charmed audiences by the delicacy with which Broken Blossoms handled such a complex subject.
" Reviewers found it 'Surprising in its simplicity'...the acting seemed nine days' wonder -no one talked of anything but Lillian's smile, Lillian turned like a tormented animal in a trap, of Barthelmess' convincing restraint. Few pictures have enjoyed greater or more lasting d'estime."[7]
The scenes of child abuse nauseated backers when Griffith gave them a preview of the film; according to Lillian Gish in interviews, a Variety reporter invited to sit in on a second take left the room to vomit.[8] She said Griffith himself was sickened while directing her in the closet scene.[citation needed]
In 1996, Broken Blossoms was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Themes[edit]
Cruelty and injustice against the innocent are a recurring theme in Griffith's films and are graphically portrayed here. The introductory card says, "We may believe there are no Battling Burrows, striking the helpless with brutal whip — but do we not ourselves use the whip of unkind words and deeds? So, perhaps, Battling may even carry a message of warning."
Broken Blossoms was released during a period of strong anti-Chinese feeling in the USA, a fear known as the Yellow Peril. The phrase "yellow peril" was common in the U.S. newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst.[9] It was also the title of a popular book by an influential U.S. religious figure, G. G. Rupert, who published The Yellow Peril; or, Orient vs. Occident in 1911. Griffith changed Burke's original story to promote a message of tolerance. In Burke's story, the Chinese protagonist is a sordid young Shanghai drifter pressed into naval service, who frequents opium dens and whorehouses; in the film, he becomes a Buddhist missionary whose initial goal is to spread the word of Buddha and peace (although he is also shown frequenting opium dens when he is depressed). Even at his lowest point, he still prevents his gambling companions from fighting.
The 'closet scene'[edit]
The most-discussed scene in Broken Blossoms is Lillian Gish's "closet" scene. Here Gish performs Lucy's horror by writhing in the claustrophobic space like a tortured animal who knows there is no escape.[10] There is more than one anecdote about the filming of the "closet" scene, Richard Schickel writes:
"It is heartbreaking – yet for the most part quite delicately controlled by the actress. Barthelmess reports that her hysteria was induced by Griffith's taunting of her. Gish, on her part, claims that she improvised the child's tortured movements on the spot and that when she finished the scene there was a hush on stage, broken finally by Griffith's exclamation, 'My God, why didn't you warn me you were going to do that?'".[10]
The scene is also used to demonstrate Griffith's uncanny ability to create an aural effect with only an image.[11] Gish's screams apparently attracted such a crowd outside the studio that people needed to be held back.[12]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Schickel, Richard. D.W. Griffith: an American Film Life. New York: Proscenium Publishers Inc, 1984. ISBN 0-87910-080-X, page 391
2.Jump up ^ Williams, Martin. Griffith: First Artist of the Movies. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1980. ISBN 0-19-502685-3, 112
3.Jump up ^ Schickel, Richard. D.W. Griffith: an American Film Life. New York: Proscenium Publishers Inc, 1984. ISBN 0-87910-080-X, page 394
4.Jump up ^ Schickel, Richard. D.W. Griffith: an American Film Life. New York: Proscenium Publishers Inc, 1984. ISBN 0-87910-080-X, page 395
5.Jump up ^ Barry, Iris. D.W. Griffith: American Film Master. New York: Museum of Modern Art Press, 2002. ISBN 0-87070-683-7, page
6.Jump up ^ O'Dell, Paul. Griffith and the Rise of Hollywood. Manchester: Castle Books, 1970. ISBN 0-498-07718-7, page 127
7.Jump up ^ Barry, Iris. D.W. Griffith: American Film Master. New York: Museum of Modern Art Press, 2002. ISBN 0-87070-683-7, page 28
8.Jump up ^ Affron, Charles, Lillian Gish, Her Legend, Her Life (Scribner, 2002), p. 129.
9.Jump up ^ "Foreign News: Again, Yellow Peril". Time. September 11, 1933. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Schickel, Richard. D.W. Griffith: an American Film Life. New York: Proscenium Publishers Inc, 1984. ISBN 0-87910-080-X, page 392
11.Jump up ^ O'Dell, Paul. Griffith and the Rise of Hollywood. Manchester: Castle Books, 1970. ISBN 0-498-07718-7, page 125
12.Jump up ^ Williams, Martin. Griffith: First Artist of the Movies. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1980. ISBN 0-19-502685-3, page 114
External links[edit]
Broken Blossoms at the Internet Movie Database
Broken Blossoms at AllRovi
Broken Blossoms at the TCM Movie Database
Broken Blossoms is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
Broken Blossoms at Google Video.
In-depth analysis of Broken Blossoms at filmsite.org
French lobby poster; Cine France

[hide]
v·
 t·
 e
 
Films directed by D. W. Griffith


1908-1913
Hundreds - see complete D. W. Griffith filmography
 

1914-1916
Waifs·
 The Massacre·
 Judith of Bethulia·
 Battle of the Sexes (lost)·
 Brute Force·
 Home, Sweet Home·
 The Escape (lost)·
 The Avenging Conscience: or 'Thou Shalt Not Kill'·
 The Birth of a Nation·
 A Day with Governor Whitman·
 Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
 

1917-1919
A Liberty Bond Appeal·
 Hearts of the World·
 The Great Love·
 Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal·
 The World of Columbus·
 The Greatest Thing in Life (lost)·
 A Romance of Happy Valley·
 The Girl Who Stayed at Home·
 Broken Blossoms·
 True Heart Susie·
 The Fall of Babylon·
 The Mother and the Law·
 Scarlet Days·
 The Greatest Question
 

1920-1931
The Idol Dancer·
 Remodeling Her Husband·
 The Love Flower·
 Way Down East·
 Dream Street·
 Orphans of the Storm·
 One Exciting Night·
 Mammy's Boy·
 The White Rose·
 America·
 Isn't Life Wonderful·
 Sally of the Sawdust·
 That Royle Girl·
 The Sorrows of Satan·
 Topsy and Eva·
 Drums of Love·
 The Battle of the Sexes·
 Lady of the Pavements·
 Abraham Lincoln·
 The Struggle
 

 

Categories: 1919 films
American silent feature films
Black-and-white films
Films about race and ethnicity
American romantic drama films
United States National Film Registry films
Films directed by D. W. Griffith
Films based on novels
1910s drama films
1910s romance films



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Broken Blossoms

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

For the 1936 film, see Broken Blossoms (1936 film).

Broken Blossoms
Brokenblossoms.jpg
DVD cover

Directed by
D. W. Griffith
Produced by
D. W. Griffith
Written by
Thomas Burke
D. W. Griffith
Starring
Lillian Gish
Richard Barthelmess
Donald Crisp
Cinematography
G.W. Bitzer
Editing by
James Smith
Distributed by
United Artists
Release date(s)
May 13, 1919
Running time
90 minutes
Country
United States
Language
Silent film
 English intertitles
Budget
$88,000 (estimated)
Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl is a 1919 silent film directed by D.W. Griffith. It was distributed by United Artists and premiered on May 13, 1919. It stars Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess and Donald Crisp, and tells the story of young girl, Lucy Burrows, who is abused by her alcoholic prizefighting father, Battling Burrows, and meets Cheng Huan, a kind-hearted Chinese man who falls in love with her. It is based on Thomas Burke's short story "The Chink and the Child" from the 1916 collection Limehouse Nights.


Contents
  [hide] 1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production and style
4 Reception
5 Themes
6 The 'closet scene'
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]



 Lucy (Lillian Gish) and Cheng (Richard Barthelmess)
Cheng Huan (Richard Barthelmess) leaves his native China because he "dreams to spread the gentle message of Buddha to the Anglo-Saxon lands." His idealism fades as he is faced with the brutal reality of London's gritty inner-city. However, his mission is finally realized in his devotion to the "broken blossom" Lucy Burrows (Lillian Gish), the beautiful but unwanted and abused daughter of boxer Battling Burrows (Donald Crisp).
After being beaten and discarded one evening by her raging father, Lucy finds sanctuary in Cheng's home, the beautiful and exotic room above his shop. As Cheng nurses Lucy back to health, the two form a bond as two unwanted outcasts of society. All goes astray for them when Lucy's father gets wind of his daughter's whereabouts and in a drunken rage drags her back to their home to punish her. Fearing for her life, Lucy locks herself inside a closet to escape her contemptuous father.
By the time Cheng arrives to rescue Lucy, whom he so innocently adores, it is too late. Lucy's lifeless body lies on her modest bed as Battling has a drink in the other room. As Cheng gazes at Lucy's youthful face which, in spite of the circumstances, beams with innocence and even the slightest hint of a smile, Battling enters the room to make his escape. The two stand for a long while, exchanging spiteful glances, until Battling lunges for Cheng with a hatchet, and Cheng retaliates by shooting Burrows repeatedly with his handgun. After returning to his home with Lucy's body, Cheng builds a shrine to Buddha and takes his own life with a knife to the stomach.
Cast[edit]
Lillian Gish as Lucy Burrows
Richard Barthelmess as Cheng Huan
Donald Crisp as Battling Burrows
Arthur Howard as Burrows' manager
Edward Peil Sr. as Evil Eye
George Beranger as The Spying One
Norman Selby as A prizefighter
Production and style[edit]
Unlike Griffith's more extravagant earlier works like The Birth of a Nation or Intolerance, Broken Blossoms is a small-scale film that uses controlled studio environments to create a more intimate effect.
Griffith was known for his willingness to collaborate with his actors and on many occasions join them in research outings.[1][2]
The visual style of Broken Blossoms emphasises the seedy Limehouse streets with their dark shadows, drug addicts and drunkards, contrasting them with the beauty of Cheng and Lucy's innocent attachment as expressed by Cheng's decorative apartment. Conversely, the Burrows' bare cell reeks of oppression and hostility. Film critic and historian Richard Schickel goes so far as to credit this gritty realism with inspiring "the likes of Pabst, Stiller, von Sternberg, and others, [and then] re-emerging in the United States in the sound era, in the genre identified as Film Noir".[3]
Griffith was unsure of his final product and took several months to complete the editing saying "I can't look at the damn thing; it depresses me so."[4]
Reception[edit]
Broken Blossoms premiered in May 1919, at the George M. Cohan Theatre in New York City as part of the D.W. Griffith Repertory Season.[5] According to Lillian Gish's autobiography, theaters were decorated with flowers, moon lanterns and beautiful Chinese brocaded draperies for the premiere. Critics and audiences were pleased with Griffith's follow-up film to his 1916 epic Intolerance.[6] Contrasting with Intolerance's grand story, set and length, Griffith charmed audiences by the delicacy with which Broken Blossoms handled such a complex subject.
" Reviewers found it 'Surprising in its simplicity'...the acting seemed nine days' wonder -no one talked of anything but Lillian's smile, Lillian turned like a tormented animal in a trap, of Barthelmess' convincing restraint. Few pictures have enjoyed greater or more lasting d'estime."[7]
The scenes of child abuse nauseated backers when Griffith gave them a preview of the film; according to Lillian Gish in interviews, a Variety reporter invited to sit in on a second take left the room to vomit.[8] She said Griffith himself was sickened while directing her in the closet scene.[citation needed]
In 1996, Broken Blossoms was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Themes[edit]
Cruelty and injustice against the innocent are a recurring theme in Griffith's films and are graphically portrayed here. The introductory card says, "We may believe there are no Battling Burrows, striking the helpless with brutal whip — but do we not ourselves use the whip of unkind words and deeds? So, perhaps, Battling may even carry a message of warning."
Broken Blossoms was released during a period of strong anti-Chinese feeling in the USA, a fear known as the Yellow Peril. The phrase "yellow peril" was common in the U.S. newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst.[9] It was also the title of a popular book by an influential U.S. religious figure, G. G. Rupert, who published The Yellow Peril; or, Orient vs. Occident in 1911. Griffith changed Burke's original story to promote a message of tolerance. In Burke's story, the Chinese protagonist is a sordid young Shanghai drifter pressed into naval service, who frequents opium dens and whorehouses; in the film, he becomes a Buddhist missionary whose initial goal is to spread the word of Buddha and peace (although he is also shown frequenting opium dens when he is depressed). Even at his lowest point, he still prevents his gambling companions from fighting.
The 'closet scene'[edit]
The most-discussed scene in Broken Blossoms is Lillian Gish's "closet" scene. Here Gish performs Lucy's horror by writhing in the claustrophobic space like a tortured animal who knows there is no escape.[10] There is more than one anecdote about the filming of the "closet" scene, Richard Schickel writes:
"It is heartbreaking – yet for the most part quite delicately controlled by the actress. Barthelmess reports that her hysteria was induced by Griffith's taunting of her. Gish, on her part, claims that she improvised the child's tortured movements on the spot and that when she finished the scene there was a hush on stage, broken finally by Griffith's exclamation, 'My God, why didn't you warn me you were going to do that?'".[10]
The scene is also used to demonstrate Griffith's uncanny ability to create an aural effect with only an image.[11] Gish's screams apparently attracted such a crowd outside the studio that people needed to be held back.[12]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Schickel, Richard. D.W. Griffith: an American Film Life. New York: Proscenium Publishers Inc, 1984. ISBN 0-87910-080-X, page 391
2.Jump up ^ Williams, Martin. Griffith: First Artist of the Movies. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1980. ISBN 0-19-502685-3, 112
3.Jump up ^ Schickel, Richard. D.W. Griffith: an American Film Life. New York: Proscenium Publishers Inc, 1984. ISBN 0-87910-080-X, page 394
4.Jump up ^ Schickel, Richard. D.W. Griffith: an American Film Life. New York: Proscenium Publishers Inc, 1984. ISBN 0-87910-080-X, page 395
5.Jump up ^ Barry, Iris. D.W. Griffith: American Film Master. New York: Museum of Modern Art Press, 2002. ISBN 0-87070-683-7, page
6.Jump up ^ O'Dell, Paul. Griffith and the Rise of Hollywood. Manchester: Castle Books, 1970. ISBN 0-498-07718-7, page 127
7.Jump up ^ Barry, Iris. D.W. Griffith: American Film Master. New York: Museum of Modern Art Press, 2002. ISBN 0-87070-683-7, page 28
8.Jump up ^ Affron, Charles, Lillian Gish, Her Legend, Her Life (Scribner, 2002), p. 129.
9.Jump up ^ "Foreign News: Again, Yellow Peril". Time. September 11, 1933. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Schickel, Richard. D.W. Griffith: an American Film Life. New York: Proscenium Publishers Inc, 1984. ISBN 0-87910-080-X, page 392
11.Jump up ^ O'Dell, Paul. Griffith and the Rise of Hollywood. Manchester: Castle Books, 1970. ISBN 0-498-07718-7, page 125
12.Jump up ^ Williams, Martin. Griffith: First Artist of the Movies. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1980. ISBN 0-19-502685-3, page 114
External links[edit]
Broken Blossoms at the Internet Movie Database
Broken Blossoms at AllRovi
Broken Blossoms at the TCM Movie Database
Broken Blossoms is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
Broken Blossoms at Google Video.
In-depth analysis of Broken Blossoms at filmsite.org
French lobby poster; Cine France

[hide]
v·
 t·
 e
 
Films directed by D. W. Griffith


1908-1913
Hundreds - see complete D. W. Griffith filmography
 

1914-1916
Waifs·
 The Massacre·
 Judith of Bethulia·
 Battle of the Sexes (lost)·
 Brute Force·
 Home, Sweet Home·
 The Escape (lost)·
 The Avenging Conscience: or 'Thou Shalt Not Kill'·
 The Birth of a Nation·
 A Day with Governor Whitman·
 Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
 

1917-1919
A Liberty Bond Appeal·
 Hearts of the World·
 The Great Love·
 Lillian Gish in a Liberty Loan Appeal·
 The World of Columbus·
 The Greatest Thing in Life (lost)·
 A Romance of Happy Valley·
 The Girl Who Stayed at Home·
 Broken Blossoms·
 True Heart Susie·
 The Fall of Babylon·
 The Mother and the Law·
 Scarlet Days·
 The Greatest Question
 

1920-1931
The Idol Dancer·
 Remodeling Her Husband·
 The Love Flower·
 Way Down East·
 Dream Street·
 Orphans of the Storm·
 One Exciting Night·
 Mammy's Boy·
 The White Rose·
 America·
 Isn't Life Wonderful·
 Sally of the Sawdust·
 That Royle Girl·
 The Sorrows of Satan·
 Topsy and Eva·
 Drums of Love·
 The Battle of the Sexes·
 Lady of the Pavements·
 Abraham Lincoln·
 The Struggle
 

 

Categories: 1919 films
American silent feature films
Black-and-white films
Films about race and ethnicity
American romantic drama films
United States National Film Registry films
Films directed by D. W. Griffith
Films based on novels
1910s drama films
1910s romance films



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Create account
Log in


Article
Talk





Read
Edit
View history




 Search 



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Simple English
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Edit links
This page was last modified on 7 November 2013 at 19:22.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
 Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki