Everytime I watch a D.W. Griffith, I walk away feeling vaguely impressed and really disturbed. The same holds true for this film which centers around a girl who has an abusive father. She falls in love with The Yellow Man (seriously Griffith?) and it ultimately ends tragically. It had the most interesting plot of a Griffith movie so far in my opinion but again Griffith continues to make things difficult. I want to like him so badly (I actually had an argument with my sister about him) for what he did for cinema but he continues to display his own ignorance as well as his magnificence in his works. He is one tough nut to crack but you have to give him props, particularly with this film, for keeping the audience engrossed.
RATING: **--- (I would give more if I didn't feel so disturbed)
Interesting Facts:
Richard Bartheless was not actually Oriental. He wore a rubber band on top of his head to give his features a slanted appearance. If this surprises you, you have obviously not seen other D.W. Griffith movies.
Lillian Gish was sick of doing movies with Griffith and had to be heavily persuaded to do this one. Probably because all of her characters in his films are wusses.
At least "The Yellow Man" is the hero of the story. That is a big departure from his previous bigotry.
ReplyDeleteThat's true! I guess we have to take what we can get.
DeleteI don't think he was a bigot from what I've read, just that he didn't really have an opinion either way. The oppressed Klu Klux Klan, the helpless Yellow Man nicknamed Chinky - these things make great stories if you ignore the racist element.
ReplyDeleteIn part we can excuse him as being a product of his time, but I note that Birth of a Nation caused mass protests upon release so it's not just like a racial term which has fallen out of fashion now we're all older and wiser.
Yeah, I read that he was surprised and hurt people thought he was so racist. I bet his defense was "some of my best friends are black!"
DeleteMMmm Reasonable comment Amanda, but i'm afraid I'm going to back Dessie on this.. Whilst never denying this is a racist film.. even by standards of the time .. I genuinely do not think Griffiths is a racist in his soul. Sheltered environment, mistaken, ill-informed, plain simple wrong .. sure, but with no intent to hurt, degrade.
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