Directed by D.W. Griffith
Written by D.W. Griffith from a story by Thomas Burke
1919/US
D.W. Griffith Productions
Repeat viewing/YouTube
Lucy Burrows: What makes you so good to me, Chinky?
This film is lifted above the usual drek by Lillian Gish’s exquisite performance.
The story takes place in the Lime House district of London. Lucy Burrows (Gish) is a poor teenage waif who is constantly terrorized by her abusive drunkard boxer father Battling Burrows (Donald Crisp). Cheng Huan (Richard Barthelmess) is a sensitive Chinese immigrant who came to America to spread the Buddha’s teachings. He is now disillusioned.
Both the Girl and the Yellow Man experience chaste happiness after Fate brings them together. But Fate had more than happiness in mind.
This is miles ahead of Griffith’s previous efforts. It is Lillian Gish’s exquisite performance that lifts the film to the next level. That closet scene is unforgettable!
The film was made as part of the director’s continuing attempt to make up for the racism in The Birth of a Nation (1915). He did not quite succeed in my opinion. The Chinese are portrayed sympathetically but it’s all stereotypical and somewhat ham-handed. Richard Barthelmess’s portrayal does not help. Donald Crisp is quite convincing in this.
I remember liking “Broken Blossoms,” though it has been a long time since I saw it. I’ll never forget Gish’s forced “smile.”
Those smiles are so touching. And nobody could have done them with just the perfect tone but Gish.
Yes, absolutely, a bit step up for Griffith. I consider it the best of his movies, and that is actually a bit sad.
Despite the yellow-face and the hammy delivery, this is a big turn-around on Griffith side.
I’ve got the other to Griffith films coming up shortly. Not really looking forward to them though more Gish is never a bad thing.
I would be more impressed by Griffith’s alleged concerns about bigotry if he had ever made even the tiniest effort to portray Black people in a more positive manner than the stomach-churning representations in Birth of a Nation.
He directed a film with a nice Chinese man.
Great, DW!
Then he made Intolerance! It’s terrible to be mean to white Protestants! Everybody should be more understanding of poor white people! And look at what intolerance did to Jesus! (It’s been a while. I don’t remember who was being mean to whom in the Babylon sequence.)
He also made The Avenging Conscience, which has some very bad Italian people living on the edge of town.
When you make amends, it’s a lot more convincing if you try to make amends to the people you wronged.
I don’t think DW was concerned with bigotry. I think we was concerned with his image.
I’m very much under the impression that “Intolerance” was directed at his critics for being so intolerant of the racism in Birth of a Nation. He considered himself the victim.