Movies - Broken Blossoms

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Broken Blossoms

	Movies - Broken Blossoms

Broken Blossoms is a 1919 film directed by D.W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The film paints an intimate portrait of Cheng Huan (Richard Barthelmess), a kind hearted Chinese man, and his love for a poor abused girl named Lucy (Lillian Gish).

Plot

Cheng leaves his native China to spread the word of the Buddha in the western world. His optimism fades as he is faced with the brutal reality of London’s gritty underbelly. However, his mission is realized in his devotion to the “broken blossom” Lucy Burrows. As the unwanted and abused child of former boxer, Battling Burrows (Donald Crisp), Lillian Gish gives what is considered to be one of her most subtle and touching performances. 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 romantic bond as two unwanted outcasts of society. All goes astray for the young lovers when Lucy’s father gets wind of his daughters’ whereabouts and in a drunken rage drags his ailing daughter back to their home to punish her. Fearing for her life Lucy locks herself inside a closet to escape her contemptuous father. Here Gish gives her most horrific performance of her career, writhing in the claustrophobic space like a tortured animal who knows there is no escape (Schickel 392). By the time Cheng arrives to rescue his beloved, 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, who returns the sentiment 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 gut.

Background

Unlike Griffith’s more extravagant early works like Birth of a Nation or Intolerance, Broken Blossom’s concise lighting and controlled studio environments create his most intimate and tragic film. The film was adapted from “The Chink and the Girl”, a story from Thomas Burke’s Limehouse Nights. Griffith came upon the story by way of Mary Pickford who saw the similarities between Griffith’s and Burk’s artistic style (Schickel, 189). Preliminary work on the film began in November of 1918, and production ran smoothly (Williams, 109); the limited action and entirely indoor execution made for a rapid principal shooting of only eighteen days (Barry, 28). The six weeks of rehearsal time allowed Gish and Barthelmess to explore their characters and develop a relationship (Schickel, 391). Griffiths was known for his willingness to collaborate with his actors and on many occasions join them in research outings (Williams 112; Schickel, 391).

Stylistically Broken Blossoms paved the way for future elements of Mise en scène and has even been accreted with birthing many of the visual elements that the Film Noir movement is known for. Inspiring “the likes of Pabst, Stiller, von Sternberg, and others, re-emerging in the United States in the sound era, in the genre identified as Film Noir" (Schickel, 394). The seedy imagery of the Limehouse streets with the dark shadows of the less than savory drug addicts and drunkards, contrasts the beauty of Cheng and Lucy’s love as expressed by Cheng’s decorative apartment. Conversely the Burrows bare cell reeks of oppression and hostility.

Reception

Broken Blossoms was released in May of 1919 at the George M. Cohen Theatre in New York City as part of the D.W. Griffith Repertory Season (Barry, 29). Critics and audiences were pleased with Griffith’s follow-up film to his 1916 epic Intolerance (O’Dell 127). Contrasting with Intolerance’s grand story, set and length, Griffith charmed audiences by the delicacy with which Broken Blossom’s 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 succes d’estime.” (Barry 28). In reality 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.” (Schickel 395).

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Broken Blossoms ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Broken Blossoms; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay