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7.2/10
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A frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.A frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.A frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.
- Awards
- 1 win
Lillian Gish
- Lucy - The Girl
- (as Miss Lillian Gish)
Richard Barthelmess
- Cheng Huan - The Yellow Man
- (as Mr. Richard Barthelmess)
Edward Peil Sr.
- Evil Eye
- (as Edward Peil)
Ernest Butterworth
- Secondary Role
- (uncredited)
Fred Hamer
- Secondary Role
- (uncredited)
Wilbur Higby
- London Policeman
- (uncredited)
Man-Ching Kwan
- Buddhist Monk
- (uncredited)
Bobbie Mack
- Ringside Employee
- (uncredited)
Moy Ming
- Minor Role
- (uncredited)
Steve Murphy
- Fight Spectator
- (uncredited)
George Nichols
- Police Constable
- (uncredited)
Karla Schramm
- Burrows' Girlfriend
- (uncredited)
Bessie Wong
- Girl in China
- (uncredited)
- Director
- D.W. Griffith(under the personal direction of)
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhile filming the closet scene, Lillian Gish's performance of pure terror was so realistic that D.W. Griffith was compelled to shout back at her and urge her further. A passerby heard this going on and, convinced that something terrible was going on, had to be restrained from entering the studio.
- GoofsThe intertitles state, "The Buddha says, 'What thou dost not want others to do thee, do thou not to others.'" It was actually not the Buddha but Confucius' teaching.
- Quotes
Lucy Burrows: Don't do it, Daddy! You'll hit me once too often - and then they'll - they'll hang yer!
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Philco Television Playhouse: The Birth of the Movies (1951)
Featured review
An Americanized London Story
It is rather interesting to compare the silent D.W. Griffith BROKEN BLOSSOMS with its inspiration: the 1916 Thomas Burke short story The Chink And The Child, published in Limehouse Nights (Grant Richards Limited, London). Griffith has deliberately left out, added and changed parts of the story in his film. When Burke's collection of Limehouse stories was published it was feared that the book would be barred by the censor. Recently books by Vere Stacpoole (The Blue Lagoon) and D.H. Lawrence (The Rainbow) has been suppressed, as 'frankness in fiction was frowned upon...' (John Gawsworth - Foreword to: The Best Stories of Thomas Burke, Phoenix House, London, 1950). There were enough worrying themes in the story: its sadism, the utterly impossible interracial love affair and the girl's youth. In Burke's story Lucy is found in an opium joint, where a prostitute has taken her to make a profit out of the virgin. Cheng rescues the 'alabaster Cockney child' - she is only twelve - to bring her '...love and death.' Burke's poetic prose is not always graphic: «He took her hand and kissed it; repeated the kiss upon her cheek and lip and little bosom, twining his fingers in her hair. Docilely, and echoing the smile of his lemon lips in a way that thrilled him almost to laughter, she returned his kisses impetuously, gladly. ... And she was his; her sweet self and her prattle, and her birdlike ways were all his own. Oh, beautifully they loved. ...» Nevertheless elsewhere Burke clarifies the nature of their relation as « It may be that he forgot that he was in London and not in Tuan-tsen. It may be that he did not care. Of that nothing can be told. All that is known is that his love was a pure and holy thing.» Griffith's additions vary from Lucy's artificial smile to Cheng's religious mission. The Christian missionary is also Griffith's invention. He has a dig at Western Christian morality sending missionaries around the world while there's still enough to be done in Battling Burrows's own home town. Near the end Cheng kills Battling Burrows with a handgun as in any American western. In Burke's London Limehouse nights a snake deals with Battling Burrows. Was such a venomous revenge not personal enough to Griffith's American taste?
helpful•134
- tiedel
- Dec 29, 2002
- How long is Broken Blossoms?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Broken Blossoms or the Yellow Man and the Girl
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $88,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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