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sabotai · 08-24-2006, 04:19 PM

Broken Blossoms (1919)
Directed By: D.W. Griffith
Starring: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Donald Crisp
Length: 90 min

Honors
Nominated AFI's "100 Years...100 Passions"

We jump up to 1919 from 1916's Intolerance. One reason, I suspect, would be because of World War I effecting the nation. Another would be that a lot of movies still haven't made their way to DVD from this time (and we'll see this again in the mid 1920s). Not to mention a lot of movies from this time just have not survived.

Today, the language in the movie would be seen as quite offensive. Cheng Huan (played by Richard Barthelmess) is a Buddhist from China who leaves for London to spread the word of Buddhism. As a white actor trying to portray a chinese character, he spends most of the film with his eyes mostly shut. He looks like he's asleep for most of the film. His character is also called "The Yellow Man" and "Chink" in the text shown on the screen. But, during this time, there was only one actor (Sessue Hayakawa) of East-Asian decent that played leading roles in films. The rest were played by whites.

Lillian Gish plays Lucy, the daughter of an abusive father and boxer named Battling Burrows. He routinely beats Lucy when he had been drinking causing Lucy to live most of her life in fear of her father. Cheng Huan, after arriving in London, becomes a shopkeeper and opium addict. He admires Lucy's beauty from afar until one day he finds her outside his shop, passed out after wandering around after another beating from her father. Huan takes her inside his shop and cares for her.

And, of course, they fall in love (but no touching!) Lucy's father finds out where she is and takes her back home by force. She runs into a closet but her father grabs and axe and chops the door (The Shining!) She screams for her life, but her dad gets to her, pulls her out and beats her to death. Huan shows up shortly after, finds Lucy dead and shoots Battle Burrows to death. He then goes back to his show, and can not live without her, and kills himself.

While a lot of the language, and the portrayal of a chinese man by Bethelmess, would be considered pretty offensive by today's standards, this was one of the first, if not the first, on screen inter-racial love stories. It was a film, that Roger Ebert says, "helped nudge a xenophobic nation toward racial tolerance."

Historical Rating: 7/10
Entertainment Rating: 5/10

08-24-2006, 04:19 PM	#42
sabotai General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The Satellite of Love	Broken Blossoms (1919) Directed By: D.W. Griffith Starring: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Donald Crisp Length: 90 min Honors Nominated AFI's "100 Years...100 Passions" We jump up to 1919 from 1916's Intolerance. One reason, I suspect, would be because of World War I effecting the nation. Another would be that a lot of movies still haven't made their way to DVD from this time (and we'll see this again in the mid 1920s). Not to mention a lot of movies from this time just have not survived. Today, the language in the movie would be seen as quite offensive. Cheng Huan (played by Richard Barthelmess) is a Buddhist from China who leaves for London to spread the word of Buddhism. As a white actor trying to portray a chinese character, he spends most of the film with his eyes mostly shut. He looks like he's asleep for most of the film. His character is also called "The Yellow Man" and "Chink" in the text shown on the screen. But, during this time, there was only one actor (Sessue Hayakawa) of East-Asian decent that played leading roles in films. The rest were played by whites. Lillian Gish plays Lucy, the daughter of an abusive father and boxer named Battling Burrows. He routinely beats Lucy when he had been drinking causing Lucy to live most of her life in fear of her father. Cheng Huan, after arriving in London, becomes a shopkeeper and opium addict. He admires Lucy's beauty from afar until one day he finds her outside his shop, passed out after wandering around after another beating from her father. Huan takes her inside his shop and cares for her. And, of course, they fall in love (but no touching!) Lucy's father finds out where she is and takes her back home by force. She runs into a closet but her father grabs and axe and chops the door (The Shining!) She screams for her life, but her dad gets to her, pulls her out and beats her to death. Huan shows up shortly after, finds Lucy dead and shoots Battle Burrows to death. He then goes back to his show, and can not live without her, and kills himself. While a lot of the language, and the portrayal of a chinese man by Bethelmess, would be considered pretty offensive by today's standards, this was one of the first, if not the first, on screen inter-racial love stories. It was a film, that Roger Ebert says, "helped nudge a xenophobic nation toward racial tolerance." Historical Rating: 7/10 Entertainment Rating: 5/10 Last edited by sabotai : 12-16-2007 at 10:50 PM.