Country: USA
Released: May 13th, 1919
Genre: Drama, Romance
Directed by: D.W. Griffith
Produced by: D.W. Griffith
Written by: Thomas Burke
Aww you were doing so well, Griffith. Why'd you gotta blow it by throwing yellow-face at us?
All right let's keep this short: Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl follows devout Chinese buddhist and pacifist Cheng Huan, played by white actor Rich Barthelmess, as he travels to America to spread his message of peace only to be crushed by the cruel realities of life in the new world. Shortly after taking up opium to ease his depression he becomes infatuated with the young Lucy Burrows (Lillian Gish), an innocent girl living in fear of her abusive father Battling Burrows (Donald Crisp), a savage boxer who makes Bluto from Popeye look like Bob Ross. He beats his daughter, drinks like a sailor, and hates foreigners. I can only assume he also denies the Holocaust and thinks that 9/11 was an inside job.
Basically he's a bad-guy and upon discovering her daughter's relationship with Cheng beats her to death. In his grief Cheng forsakes his peaceful ways and succumbs to rage, killing Battling. The film ends with Cheng committing suicide over Lucy's body just as the police prepare to arrest him for the murders.
Woah, fuck me movie that's pretty twisted. I've gotta say I did not see that coming and It's pretty ballsy to take it in such dark direction.
Unfortunately that's really the only notable thing about Broken Blossoms. The acting is alright; you can always expect a good performance from Lillian Gish, but the characters are fairly one dimensional. Lucy is your typical damsel in distress and Battering is you're average Holocaust denying, daughter beating villain. I guess Cheng is fairly interested what with his descent into violence and all, but he really isn't given as much screen time as the other two so it's not as impactful as it could have been.
And that brings me to the main point. The film tries to convey this anti-xenophobic message of tolerance by making Cheng the gentle hero and making an interracial relationship the main plot. But all of that is undercut by having a white actor in yellow-face play Cheng, and I gotta say Barthelmess looks about as asian as Mikey Rooney (and thank god he never played an asian character, amiright?). Barthelmess spends the whole movie squinting in a laughable attempt to look more asian, but he just comes across as confused or stoned out of his mind.
Dammit, Griffith! It's clear you were trying to make an anti-racist movie, for god sakes you try to make one of the daughter killing physo's most despicable traits his xenophobia. You couldn't have at least tried to get an asian actor for the lead? Hell the first ten minutes of the movie is chalked full of them, why didn't you just pluck one of them for the role? Cheng just comes across as a sleepy white guy at best and an offensive caricature at worst. He doesn't feel like a genuine person, which ultimately blunts the tragedy of his demise.
I don't know, I suppose there is something to be said about having an 'asian' lead at the height of anti-asian hysteria in the U.S (back when the phrase 'Yellow Peril' was used unironically to scare white folk), but Barthelemess' performance is so silly and laughable it can't help but come across as a bit of a misfire, and the film suffers for it. Still though, it is a huge damn improvement over Gus from Birth of a Nation.
There really isn't anything else to say about the film. After the grandiose walls of Babylon in Intolerance, Broken Blossoms feels small and... well, crummy by comparison. Film critics laud the closet scene in which Gish's Lucy is cornered by Battling as a instance of masterful filmmaking, but I didn't find it all that special. Sure Gish's acting is good but it didn't grip me as much the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre scene from Intolerance.
Overall I don't see what in this film warrants a spot on the list. The ending is a nice surprise and I imagine that in the context of the time period it was a great step forward in combating racial prejudice, which is admirable. But for a list of movies you MUST see before you die Broken Blossoms comes across as really... average.
Definitely one you can skip.
Released: May 13th, 1919
Genre: Drama, Romance
Directed by: D.W. Griffith
Produced by: D.W. Griffith
Written by: Thomas Burke
Aww you were doing so well, Griffith. Why'd you gotta blow it by throwing yellow-face at us?
All right let's keep this short: Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl follows devout Chinese buddhist and pacifist Cheng Huan, played by white actor Rich Barthelmess, as he travels to America to spread his message of peace only to be crushed by the cruel realities of life in the new world. Shortly after taking up opium to ease his depression he becomes infatuated with the young Lucy Burrows (Lillian Gish), an innocent girl living in fear of her abusive father Battling Burrows (Donald Crisp), a savage boxer who makes Bluto from Popeye look like Bob Ross. He beats his daughter, drinks like a sailor, and hates foreigners. I can only assume he also denies the Holocaust and thinks that 9/11 was an inside job.
Basically he's a bad-guy and upon discovering her daughter's relationship with Cheng beats her to death. In his grief Cheng forsakes his peaceful ways and succumbs to rage, killing Battling. The film ends with Cheng committing suicide over Lucy's body just as the police prepare to arrest him for the murders.
Woah, fuck me movie that's pretty twisted. I've gotta say I did not see that coming and It's pretty ballsy to take it in such dark direction.
Unfortunately that's really the only notable thing about Broken Blossoms. The acting is alright; you can always expect a good performance from Lillian Gish, but the characters are fairly one dimensional. Lucy is your typical damsel in distress and Battering is you're average Holocaust denying, daughter beating villain. I guess Cheng is fairly interested what with his descent into violence and all, but he really isn't given as much screen time as the other two so it's not as impactful as it could have been.
And that brings me to the main point. The film tries to convey this anti-xenophobic message of tolerance by making Cheng the gentle hero and making an interracial relationship the main plot. But all of that is undercut by having a white actor in yellow-face play Cheng, and I gotta say Barthelmess looks about as asian as Mikey Rooney (and thank god he never played an asian character, amiright?). Barthelmess spends the whole movie squinting in a laughable attempt to look more asian, but he just comes across as confused or stoned out of his mind.
Dammit, Griffith! It's clear you were trying to make an anti-racist movie, for god sakes you try to make one of the daughter killing physo's most despicable traits his xenophobia. You couldn't have at least tried to get an asian actor for the lead? Hell the first ten minutes of the movie is chalked full of them, why didn't you just pluck one of them for the role? Cheng just comes across as a sleepy white guy at best and an offensive caricature at worst. He doesn't feel like a genuine person, which ultimately blunts the tragedy of his demise.
I don't know, I suppose there is something to be said about having an 'asian' lead at the height of anti-asian hysteria in the U.S (back when the phrase 'Yellow Peril' was used unironically to scare white folk), but Barthelemess' performance is so silly and laughable it can't help but come across as a bit of a misfire, and the film suffers for it. Still though, it is a huge damn improvement over Gus from Birth of a Nation.
There really isn't anything else to say about the film. After the grandiose walls of Babylon in Intolerance, Broken Blossoms feels small and... well, crummy by comparison. Film critics laud the closet scene in which Gish's Lucy is cornered by Battling as a instance of masterful filmmaking, but I didn't find it all that special. Sure Gish's acting is good but it didn't grip me as much the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre scene from Intolerance.
Overall I don't see what in this film warrants a spot on the list. The ending is a nice surprise and I imagine that in the context of the time period it was a great step forward in combating racial prejudice, which is admirable. But for a list of movies you MUST see before you die Broken Blossoms comes across as really... average.
Definitely one you can skip.
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