Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl (1919)

Calificación de los usuarios:

7.8/10   

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Escritores:

Thomas Burke (story)
D.W. Griffith (writer)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

1922 (Poland)

Género:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A frail waif, abused by her brutish boxer father in London's seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant with tragic consequences.

Plot Keywords:

Father | London | China | Storekeeper | Chinese

Premios:

1 win

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Surprising, Typical Melodrama

Reparto

Lillian Gish	...	Lucy Burrows (as Miss Lillian Gish)
Richard Barthelmess	...	Cheng Huan (as Mr. Richard Barthelmess)
Donald Crisp	...	Battling Burrows
Arthur Howard	...	Burrows' manager
Edward Peil Sr.	...	Evil Eye (as Edward Peil)
George Beranger	...	The Spying One
Norman Selby	...	A prizefighter

También conocida como:

Broken Blossoms (USA) (short title)
Scarlet Blossoms
The Chink and the Child
La culpa ajena (Spain) [es]
Lirios rotos (Spain) [es]

Duración:

90 min

País:

USA

Color:

Negro y Blanco (tinted screen)

Relación de Aspecto:

1.33 : 1

Sonido:

Silent

Clasificación:

Australia:M

Locaciones de Filmación:

Fine Arts Studios - 4516 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Compañía:

D.W. Griffith Productions

Trivialidades:

While 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.

Errores:

Errores Reales: The 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.

Citas:

Narrator: Above all, Battling hates those not born in the same great country as himself.

Conexiones de Película:

Referenced in Concerto Macabre: The Films of John Brahm (2007) (V)

Surprising, Typical Melodrama

'Broken Blossoms' is uncharacteristically depressing for a film by D.W. Griffith. He had produced many melodramas before, but this one is overwhelmingly saddening and tragic. It is something of a landmark in that respect. Additionally, perhaps, in part, because of its precedence in cinéma, the film somehow overcomes the flaws inherit in the tradition.

Richard Barthelmess plays a Chinaman whose mission of teaching Anglo-Saxons the gentle ways of Buddhism is lost, as he becomes a shopkeeper in misty Limehouse, spending his days smoking opium and admiring an abused teenage girl (Lillian Gish) from afar. Griffith's adaptation certainly ennobles the "yellow man" in comparison to the more human portrayal, which might be subject to accusations of racism towards an author, in Thomas Burke's original story, and there's much to contrast in this film with the conversely offensive racial representations in 'The Birth of a Nation,' as well. Gish's character is also sanitized. Much of the sex in the original story is lost as a result, which might be as much because of Griffith's distaste of miscegenation than with his timidity to project such subject matter. Attraction towards, or love for, a virginal, pubescent girl, on the other hand, is a reoccurring theme in his films. Nevertheless, the subject matter, I suppose, remained rather provocative for its day and medium.

The story is centred on its characters, and thus it's instrumental that the performances are great, and Barthelmess and Gish are affecting. Gish is especially saddening and pathetic, and even Donald Crisp does well enough and is, appropriately, terribly detestable. In the beginning, yellow tinting helps convince viewers to accept the Caucasian Barthelmess as a "yellow man." Although in one scene in particular his eyes are too open, the deception is generally acceptable enough. Additionally, some extreme close-ups add greatly to the performances of the two leads.

Everything in the film seems aimed towards creating mood, including, in addition to the acting, the intertitles, photography, sets and tinting. The film turns very dark in its later parts: in its melodrama, tinting and lighting. 'Broken Blossoms' takes place entirely within the confines of studio sets. They are well designed and atmospheric--creating the milieu for the picture. 'Billy' Bitzer's photography is brilliant in a similar vein. With the aid of Hendrik Sartov's visual effects, Griffith and Bitzer sharpen, blur and gloss over images and cast and lift shadows on command. The silhouette shots are also worth mentioning. This is a different style for Griffith, and it's one of the best examples of the visual stylization mainstream American films were developing at the time and thereafter.

The intertitles are often too corny and too plentiful, and the melodrama seems ready at anytime to teeter over into annoying sentiment, but the mastery of the filmmakers continue to keep it afloat. It is both familiar and new ground in cinéma. I'm surprised how well this film works.