Editing Broken Blossoms

{{short description|1919 film by D. W. Griffith}}
{{For|the 1936 film|Broken Blossoms (1936 film)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Broken Blossoms
| image          = Letört bimbók magyar filmplakát (Nemes György, 1923).jpg
 
| caption        = Hungarian Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[D. W. Griffith]]
| producer       = D. W. Griffith
| screenplay     = D. W. Griffith
| based_on       = {{basedon|"The Chink and the Child"|[[Thomas Burke (author)|Thomas Burke]]}}
| starring       = [[Lillian Gish]]<br />[[Richard Barthelmess]]<br />[[Donald Crisp]]
| music          = 
| cinematography = [[G.W. Bitzer]]
| editing        = [[James Smith (film editor)|James Smith]]
| distributor    = [[United Artists]]
| released       = {{Film date|1919|5|13|[[New York City]], premiere|1919|10|20|US}}
| country        = United States
| runtime        = 90 minutes
| language       = [[Silent film|Silent]] (English [[intertitle]]s)
| gross = $600,000 (US)<ref name="tino"/> or $1.25 million<ref name="var"/>
| budget         = $88,000<ref name="tino">{{cite book
 | last = Balio
 | first = Tino
 | title = United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars
 | date = 2009
 | publisher = [[University of Wisconsin Press]]
 | isbn = 978-0-299-23004-3
 | pages=30–31}}</ref> or $115,000<ref name="var">{{cite magazine|accessdate=21 March 2023|url=https://archive.org/details/variety92-1928-09/page/n12/mode/1up?q=%22budgeted+at%22|magazine=Variety|title=Griffith's 20 Year Record|date=5 September 1928|page=12}}</ref>
}}

'''''Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl''''', often referred to simply as '''''Broken Blossoms''''', is a 1919 American [[silent film|silent]] [[melodrama film]]<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=Schatz|year=1981|title=Hollywood Genres: Formulas, Filmmaking, and the Studio System|isbn=0-394-32255-X|location=New York|publisher=[[Random House]]|page=222}}</ref> 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 was the first film distributed by United Artists. It is based on [[Thomas Burke (author)|Thomas Burke]]'s short story "The Chink and the Child" from the 1916 collection ''[[Limehouse Nights]]''. In 1996, ''Broken Blossoms'' was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures to be added to the [[National Film Registry]] of the [[Library of Congress]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|website=Library of Congress|access-date=May 20, 2020}}</ref>

==Plot==
[[File:Broken Blossoms.webm|thumb|left|''Broken Blossoms'']]

Cheng Huan leaves his native [[China]] because he "dreams to spread the gentle message of [[the Buddha|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, the beautiful but unwanted and abused daughter of boxer Battling Burrows.

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 the Buddha and takes his own life with a knife to the chest.

==Cast==
* [[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]] (aka [[Kid McCoy]]) as A Prizefighter
* [[Steve_Murphy_(actor)|Steve Murphy]] as Fight Spectator

==Production and style==
[[File:Broken blossoms newspaper ad.png|thumb|right|220px|Newspaper advertisement for the film]]

Unlike Griffith's more extravagant earlier works like ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' or ''[[Intolerance (film)|Intolerance]]'', ''Broken Blossoms'' is a small-scale film that uses controlled studio environments, to create a more intimate "impressionistic" effect, reminiscent of the "[[Impressionism|impressionist school of painting]]".<ref>O’Dell, 1970 p. 123-124</ref> Shot entirely in the studio, ''Broken Blossoms'' is notable in that most of Hollywood productions at the time "relied heavily on location work to provide any kind of effective atmosphere".<ref>O’Dell, 1970 p. 123: On "atmosphere" And p. 124: "...the film's great atmospherics..." And p. 127: Quoted above</ref> The visual style of ''Broken Blossoms'' emphasizes 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 [[G. W. Pabst|Pabst]], [[Mauritz Stiller|Stiller]], [[Josef von Sternberg|von Sternberg]], and others, [and then] re-emerging in the United States in the sound era, in the genre identified as [[Film Noir]]".<ref>Schickel, ''D.W. Griffith: an American Film Life'', 1984, p. 394.</ref>

Griffith was known for his willingness to collaborate with his actors and on many occasions join them in research outings.<ref name="Schickel, Richard 1984. page 391">Schickel, Richard. ''D.W. Griffith: an American Film Life.'' New York: Proscenium Publishers Inc, 1984. {{ISBN|0-87910-080-X}}, p. 391.</ref><ref>Williams, Martin. ''Griffith: First Artist of the Movies''. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1980. {{ISBN|0-19-502685-3}}, 112.</ref> As such, ''Broken Blossoms'' is “the fusion of directorial and acting style.”<ref>O’Dell, 1970 p. 123</ref>

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."<ref>Schickel, ''D.W. Griffith: an American Film Life'', 1984, p. 395.</ref>

==Box office==
The film was originally made for [[Famous Players–Lasky]]. The company sold it to the newly founded [[United Artists]] for $250,000. The film turned out to be a hit at the box office and earned a profit of $700,000.<ref name="tino"/>  It was the first film ever distributed by United Artists.<ref name="Schickel, Richard 1984. page 406">Schickel, Richard. ''D.W. Griffith: an American Film Life.'' New York: Proscenium Publishers Inc, 1984. {{ISBN|0-87910-080-X}}, p. 406.</ref>

==Reception==
{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|fontsize=100%|salign=center|quote=“The enthusiasm which ''Broken Blossoms'' awakened in 1919 can hardly be overstated; Griffith was everywhere felt to have opened up new dimensions in the cinema and raised it to a level of great tragic art.”—[[Edward Wagenknecht]] in ''The Movies in the Age of Innocence'' (1962).<ref>Wagenknecht, 1962 p. 123</ref>}}
[[File:Broken blossoms lobby card LOC.jpg|thumbnail|right|Lobby card for the film, showing the early scene in which drunken Western sailors fight on a street in China]]
''Broken Blossoms'' premiered in May 1919, at [[George M. Cohan's Theatre]] in [[New York City]] as part of the D. W. Griffith Repertory Season.<ref>Barry, Iris. ''D.W. Griffith: American Film Master.'' New York: Museum of Modern Art Press, 2002. {{ISBN|0-87070-683-7}}, p.</ref> 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 (film)|Intolerance]]''.<ref>O'Dell, Paul. ''Griffith and the Rise of Hollywood''. Manchester: Castle Books, 1970. {{ISBN|0-498-07718-7}}, p. 127.</ref> Contrasting with ''Intolerance'''s grand story, set and length, Griffith charmed audiences by the delicacy with which ''Broken Blossoms'' handled such a complex subject.
{{Blockquote|Reviewers found it "Surprising in its simplicity"...the acting seemed [[wikt:nine day wonder|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 [[wikt:succès d'estime|succès d'estime]]."<ref>Barry, ''D.W. Griffith: American Film Master'', 2002, p. 28.</ref>}}

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.<ref>Affron, Charles, ''Lillian Gish, Her Legend, Her Life'' (Scribner, 2002), p. 129.</ref>
Today, ''Broken Blossoms'' is widely regarded as one of Griffith's finest works. In 2012, the film received five critics' votes and one director's vote in the [[British Film Institute]]'s decennial ''[[Sight & Sound]]'' poll. [[Roger Ebert]] was a longtime champion of the film, having added it to his "Great Movies" series; and in 1996, it was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/1996/scene/vpage/national-film-registry-taps-25-more-pix-1117466310/|title=National Film Registry taps 25 more pix|last=Stern|first=Christopher|date=December 3, 1996|website=Variety|language=en|access-date=April 23, 2020}}</ref>

Review aggregation site ''They Shoot Pictures, Don't They'' has since found ''Broken Blossoms'' to be the 261st most acclaimed film in history.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_all1000films_table.php |title=1,000 Greatest Films (Full List) |website=theyshootpictures.com|access-date=January 16, 2016}}</ref>

[[Akira Kurosawa]], the legendary Japanese director, named this movie as one of his 100 favorite films.<ref name="farout">{{cite web |last1=Thomas-Mason |first1=Lee |title=From Stanley Kubrick to Martin Scorsese: Akira Kurosawa once named his top 100 favourite films of all time |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/akira-kurosawa-100-favourite-films-list/ |website=Far Out Magazine |date=12 January 2021 |access-date=23 January 2023}}</ref>

''Unbroken Blossoms'', a play about the making of the film told from the perspective of the two Chinese American consultants hired to work on the project, premiered at [[East West Players]] in Summer 2024. <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Cast-Set-for-UNBROKEN-BLOSSOMS-at-East-West-Players-20240417 | title=Cast Set for UNBROKEN BLOSSOMS at East West Players }}</ref>

==Themes==
{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|fontsize=100%|salign=center|quote= "If Lillian Gish's performance in ''Broken Blossoms'' is to be counted among her greatest film roles, then the performance of Richard Barthelmess is her perfect complement. Cheng Huan is portrayed as a deeply reverent and compassionate man, whose love for peace is equaled only by his love for beauty. He finds both qualities when he shelters Lucy from the savageries of Burrows. In the end he is corrupted by the forces that surround him…Too late to save Lucy, too late to save even himself, he throws himself into an uneven struggle with determination and courage, the final and ultimate sacrifice to Lucy and their spiritual happiness."—Film historian Paul O’Dell in ''Griffith and the Rise of Hollywood'' (1970)<ref>O’Dell, 1970 p. 125-127</ref>}}

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 U.S., a fear known as the [[Yellow Peril]]. The phrase "Yellow Peril" was common in the U.S. [[newspaper]]s owned by [[William Randolph Hearst]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,746032,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907021038/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,746032,00.html |url-status=dead|archive-date=September 7, 2008|magazine=Time|title=Foreign News: Again, Yellow Peril|date=September 11, 1933|access-date=April 27, 2010}}</ref>  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 den]]s and [[brothel]]s; in the film, he becomes a [[Buddhism|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.

Literary critic [[Edward Wagenknecht]] places ''Broken Blossoms'' thematically among the works of [[William Shakespeare   |  Shakespeare]] and the ancient [[Theatre of ancient Greece  | Greek dramatists]], “who wrought their material out of sordid material.”<ref>Wagenknecht, 1962 p. 124</ref>

{{blockquote  |  ''Broken Blossom'' might have been merely a subtly lighted, skillfully directed slum melodrama [but] was lifted into a world of aesthetic purity and clarity, so that the audience went away uplifted as well as terrified.<ref>Wagenknecht, 1962 p. 123-124 And p. 119: “...an immense and brooding film…”</ref>}}

==The "closet scene"==
The most-discussed scene in ''Broken Blossoms'' is Lillian Gish's "closet" scene. Here Gish performs Lucy's horror by writhing in the [[Claustrophobia|claustrophobic]] space like a tortured animal who knows there is no escape.<ref name="Schickel, Richard 1984. page 392">Schickel, ''D.W. Griffith: an American Film Life'', 1984, p. 392.</ref> There is more than one anecdote about the filming of the "closet" scene, [[Richard Schickel]] writes:
{{Blockquote|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?"<ref name="Schickel, Richard 1984. page 392"/>}} The scene is also used to demonstrate Griffith's uncanny ability to create an aural effect with only an image.<ref>O'Dell, ''Griffith and the Rise of Hollywood'', 1970, p. 125.</ref> Gish's screams apparently attracted such a crowd outside the studio that people needed to be held back.<ref>Williams, ''Griffith: First Artist of the Movies'', 1980, p. 114.</ref>

==Remakes==
A UK remake, also titled ''[[Broken Blossoms (1936 film)|Broken Blossoms]]'', followed in 1936. It was remade in Japan twice, both set in [[Yokohama]]'s [[Yokohama Chinatown|Chinatown]].<ref>Joseph L. Anderson and Donald Richie. ''The Japanese Film: Art and Industry''. New York: Grove Press, 1960, 330.</ref> A 1959 version was known as 戦場のなでしこ (Senjō no Nadeshiko, Nadeshiko on the Battlefield), directed by [[Teruo Ishii]] for [[Shintoho]].

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Sources ==
*{{cite book |last1=O’Dell|first1=Paul|title=Griffith and the Rise of Hollywood|date=1970 |publisher=A. S. Barnes & Co.|location=New York |isbn=0-498-07718-7 |page=163 |edition=1970}}
*[[Edward Wagenknecht  | Wagenknecht, Edward.]] 1962. ''The Movies in the Age of Innocence.'' [[University of Oklahoma Press]], [[Norman, Oklahoma]]. OCLC: 305160

==External links==
{{wikisource}}
{{Commons category|Broken Blossoms}}
* {{YouTube|SnSziZwW-IY|Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl (1919)}}
*''Broken Blossoms'' essay by Ed Gonzalez at National Film Registry. [https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/broken_blossoms.pdf]
*''Broken Blossoms'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 {{ISBN|0826429777}}, pp.&nbsp;63–64 [https://books.google.com/books/about/America_s_Film_Legacy.html?id=deq3xI8OmCkC]
*{{IMDb title|0009968}}
*{{TCMDb title|5883}}
*{{Internet Archive film|brokenblossoms1919}}
*[http://www.filmsite.org/brok.html In-depth analysis of Broken Blossoms at filmsite.org]
*[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oUE8AAAAIBAJ&sjid=cSsMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2206%2C25616517 Film Review - Broken Blossoms], ''Toronto World'', November 7, 1919, p.&nbsp;10.
*[http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/article-summary/broken_blosoms_silent_movie_review-1919#.XtaQWkBFzun The review of ''Broken Blossoms''] from ''Current Opinion Magazine'' (1919)
{{D. W. Griffith}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1919 films]]
[[Category:1919 romantic drama films]]
[[Category:1910s American films]]
[[Category:1910s English-language films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American romantic drama films]]
[[Category:American silent feature films]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:English-language romantic drama films]]
[[Category:Films about Buddhism]]
[[Category:Films about domestic violence]]
[[Category:Films about interracial romance]]
[[Category:Films about race and ethnicity]]
[[Category:Films based on short fiction]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Thomas Burke]]
[[Category:Films directed by D. W. Griffith]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:Films set in slums]]
[[Category:Silent American romantic drama films]]
[[Category:Surviving American silent films]]
[[Category:United Artists films]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]