Pre 1920s


Broken Blossoms

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.

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