A Masterpiece!

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

D.W. Griffith is known primarily for three of his biggest and most well-budgeted features and this is arguably the last of said trilogy. Poor Griffith. He came out with something rich in what he called patriotism and others simply tagged racist. So he decided to try something else, and then got slammed for being too lavish, ambitious and preachy. Finally along comes Broken Blossoms, a modest and earthly melodrama based for the most part within tiny, claustrophobic rooms where the weight of grief and suffering outnumber that of the bricks in the walls enclosing its victims. You couldn't be blamed for thinking it had a tenth of the budget of his first film, but you'd be wrong. In actuality his most expensive film to date, it's also perhaps his most ambitious in terms of characterisation and back-to-basics storytelling, albeit wrought with growing-pains as a result. Set in what one could assume is Victorian-era London boiling over with strife and hard times, Broken Blossoms centres around hapless and sullen victim Lucy, daughter of professional boxer Burrows who often gets overly mad (for reasons never truly justified) before proceeding to take it out on his timid daughter in between beating people up for money and then spending said money on alcohol and women. Cue "The Yellow Man", a Chinese Buddhist who runs a shop, enjoys noodles and tea and has nothing to give but peace, love and a healthy dose of Eastern wisdom-slash-actually-it's-just-Confucius-speaking. He falls in love with Lucy, professes his "pure love" for her and Burrows goes pufferfish for a bit because he's a bit of a xenophobe.In terms of film in the modern sense, it's all a bit of a saccharine, melodramatic mishap with very basic characterisation and drama more akin to a higher-class pantomime. However, considering its time and the films that came before, Griffith can't really be blamed for this one. And for the moments where the film does manage to tug on your heart strings through Lillian Gish's various degrees of insanity, desperation and endearing naivety, there's a charm here that many clamoured to see more of when they fell in love with Intolerance's modern-day segments. Various points do go overboard with the melodrama however, such as many moments where Lucy forces a smile whereupon she pushes up the corners of her lips in order to please those who obviously cannot see her tragic, wounded soul. It's this mundanely childish backdrop that spoils an otherwise forward-thinking and genuinely moving film. It's grating and sums up the movie well, however.And yet, for every moment of wistful melancholia steeped in lukewarm, melodrama soup, there's always an overriding atmosphere that broods and overwhelms the movie's more irksome features. From the harsh, foggy London streets to the endlessly amusing fight scenes involving Burrows, Broken Blossoms is very much Intolerance without the historical sidestories or light-heartedness of its central love story, mixed with the character dynamics of Birth of a Nation. It's for this reason that those in the camp of finding Griffith's first major film a little too much to stomach, usually find at least either this film or his previous to be more to their liking. Personally I enjoy the more analytical and grander of the two to this one, but for those wanting more of said film's modern act, it should be no surprise if this is more up their alley. It can be a little broad at times, and often tries too hard to be frail and grim, but there's still plenty to love whether it's in Gish's wonderful performance or simply just in appreciating the stark change of pace from Griffith that favours tone and character over grand historical stories, huge elaborate sets and line-in-the-sand political statements.

The word "beautiful" has been used time and time again to describe the D.W. Griffith directed masterpiece that is "Broken Blossoms". To be perfectly honest, it's hard not to describe it using that word for it is, indeed, quite beautiful. Perhaps this is the most beautiful of all silent cinema!Being one of the first films based on a poem, "Broken Blossoms" certainly has a poetic vibe to it. From the story/events that take place to the imagery to the editing techniques, the film feels like poetry, and I feel as if that was Mr. Griffith's goal in a way. To make a truly poetic film (however I, of course, cannot 100% speak for the man he's been dead for years).With some really mature themes attached to it (some sequences containing abuse towards Lilian Gish's character are still hard to watch today), "Broken Blossoms" is ahead of its time in almost every way. D.W. Griffith has been labeled the father of film, and I believe that he certainly deserves that label. As evident in films like "The Birth of a Nation", "Intolerance", and this (much smaller scale) film, Griffith certainly changed the cinema forever. The editing and filmmaking techniques used here are astoundingly powerful increasing the emotional intensity.It's hard for me to imagine "Broken Blossoms" as a sound film, because the silence of it really enhances the beauty and poeticism. Griffith's editing is somehow made more intense by that strong silence, and the emotional impact is greatly benefited.At only 90 minutes, "Broken Blossoms" is short, simple, and simply wonderful.

Broken Blossoms (1919) was my first silent film, so it's close to my heart.In his DW Griffith biography, Richard Schickel believes this film represents a road not taken for the director. Unlike most of his more famous films, Broken Blossoms is an intimate drama on a small scale. (Even Way Down East (1920) isn't so small scale; it did have that famous ice flow climax after all.) There are no wars (though war is mentioned once), no grand moment in history being depicted. It's simply the story of two lonely people, a disillusioned Chinese missionary and an abused boxer's daughter, who bring joy to each others' lives for a little while before tragedy intervenes.It's shot beautifully. The sets lend a closed in feel, reflecting the predicament of the characters. Fog shrouds everything, lending a sense of dread and eeriness as well. The intertitles are beautifully illustrated with flowers and shafts of light, contrasting with the dingy setting of Limehouse. Its easy to see why this was considered an art film back in the day.Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess give sensitive, heartfelt performances as the oppressed lovers. Gish is heartbreaking as the abused girl who briefly finds happiness only to have it destroyed in an instant. Barthelmess' character undergoes a more spiritual tragedy: beginning as a peaceful Buddhist who shrinks away at the sight of violence, his ideals erode to the point where he has no problem gunning down an enemy after Gish has been wrenched from his life.Of course, it's not perfect. Though this is a film that argues against racial prejudice, they cast the white Richard Barthelmess as the Chinese protagonist, so that somewhat dilutes the message. Donald Crisp overacts wildly and comically as the father, and I feel such a broad performance is ill-fitting for such a delicate tale.Broken Blossoms is dated and perhaps not ideal as an introduction to the silent era, but it's still worth a look for more seasoned fans and especially those only used to Griffith's epics.

. . . 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.