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Broken Blossoms | Year: 1919 Directed: - D.W.Griffith Actors/Actresses: - Lillian Gish - Richard Barthelmess A poetic, lyrical film Better than the more famous "Birth of a Nation" and "Way Down East," this is one of the simplest, most heartfelt films Griffith made. Lillian Gish is utterly convincing as a fifteen-year-old waif brutalized by her boxing champ father. Her abject terror before the first beating is heart-breaking: what an actress! Richard Barthelmess also gives a sensitive performance as the Chinese immigrant (audiences of the day would not have accepted a real Chinese actor in the role). The film is more direct and embarks on less tangents than others in Griffith's canon, which makes it more successful in its emotional impact. I can't help but think that this story would have been wonderful for a Puccini opera. Great film, not a good DVD (Kino edition) D.W. Griffith's 1919 social drama _Broken Blossoms_ is justly praised. As German filmmakers were discovering expressionism, Griffith found ways to make the cinema express a poetry of his own. In some ways, his innovations in this film were a product of the racism of his time. Since Griffith could not directly portray an interracial love affair between a Chinese man (Griffith regular Richard Barthelmess, done up in "yellowface") and a young English waif (Griffith perennial Lillian Gish), he transferred their feelings into the images themselves. (In a few early scenes you can even see forerunners of Ozu's "pillow shots.") Thus, even though you never actually see the two characters express their love for each other, Griffith makes it perfectly clear that they love each other anyway. For those accustomed to Griffith's blatant race-baiting in _Birth of a Nation_, this film will reveal a more sensitive, compassionate side to the great filmmaker. Although _Broken Blossoms_ is a marvelous film, I'm afraid I can't say the same for the Kino edition DVD. The film print is in fairly good shape for an artifact of its time, but has gone largely unrestored; specks and flickers, scratches, and other major artifacts are far too common for a digital presentation like this. The score Kino provides is solid, and the audio quality is good. Extras are appropriate but very skimpy; an audio commentary would have been welcome, and I'm sure there are plenty of film scholars who could have provided one. If this DVD edition were better, I'd recommend it for purchase. As it stands, I'd advise a rental. Still, if you're a film buff you'll want to buy it anyway, and I don't think you'll be too disappointed with the package. Powerful...but jeez, how depressing! I thought that overall, Broken Blossoms was a very good film. The plot is a little tough to swallow (literally--I got a stomach ache watching some of the scenes), but the end result is marvelous--especially considering how long ago the movie was made. Every emotion is captured very well without any sound(except for the music that fit each scene and mood perfectly).<BR>The one thing that kept bothering me and took away from the film was the fact that the chinese guy (and was that actor even really Chinese?!) walked around all hunched over with this freaky look on his face like a [handicapped] person or something! I mean, I can understand why Lillian Gish's character walks around hunched over, but why did "Chinky" (as Lillian Gish calls him lovingly at one point)? The way the "Yellow Man" carried himself made me dislike him a little bit, and I wasn't as sympathetic towards him...I just didn't understand why he was walking like that!<BR>All that trivial (I'll admit it!) stuff aside, this movie does not leave you for a long time. The ending was very, VERY depressing, but does fit with the story and gives a powerful ending...and, I'll admit I cried a little! Buy Broken Blossoms at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Broken Blossoms Search with the Priority Search Engine on Broken Blossoms This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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