7. Broken Blossoms (1919)

Title: Broken Blossoms
Genre: Drama, Romance
IMDB User Score: 7.8/10 Stars
Year: 1919
Language: English
Format: Black & White, Silent
Length: 90 Minutes
Director: D.W. Griffith
Producer: D.W. Griffith
Screenplay: Thomas Burke, D.W. Burke
Photography: G.W. Bitzer
Music: D.W. Griffith
Cast: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Donald Crisp, Arthur Howard, Edward Peil St. George Beranger, Norman Selby
Oscar: No
Oscar Nomination: No
Budget: $88,000
Revenue: ?
Reason it’s Significant:

- Considered by many to be the best film D.W. Griffith ever made, and if not, then certainly his most beautiful
- Went to extreme measures to utilize every method of photographic enhancement available at the time, resulting in a picture quality that is uncharacteristically good for the time period
- Contains the infamous “closet scene” which was so dramatically acted that people had to be restrained from barging onto the set, after hearing the screams, and caused Griffith to be sick on the set.
- Selected for preservation in the National Film Registry


Of the D.W. Griffith films I have seen, this is hands down his best. Broken Blossoms (1919) is a film that takes the accepted limitations of the silent era and throws them all out the window. Everything from the acting, the story, and the photography is done with a sort of simplicity that makes it deeper and more heartfelt than almost anything that has ever been done with a computer.

The first thing you’ll notice upon viewing Broken Blossoms is the film quality. This film is GORGEOUS (which is saying something given how much of the movie takes place in dusty shops and opium dens). The cinematographers of this film used EVERYTHING at their disposal to make this film stand head and shoulders above the competition at the time; powder makeup, specialized lighting equipment, oil smeared lenses, etc. They even used sheets of diaphanous gauze hung from the ceiling to create primitive light filters. The comparison between this and what was typically being done at the time is impossible to accurately describe in words; the film is just something that needs to be experienced to understand it. This is real art.

Also of note is the acting and storytelling. Lillian Gish collaborates with Griffith once again to great effect, continuing to show that she has a natural affinity for the screen. She really carries the film effortlessly. The story itself is a simple but effective one. Nothing about it tries to be revolutionary or ground-breaking, but I think that is to the films credit. Without spoiling the plot, I will say this is a very Shakespearian love story, lending it a sort of timeless appeal. Be cautious if you’re a person who cries during movies, because not only is the storyline tragic as all hell (on multiple levels), but Lillian Gish also has a ridiculously emotive face. Oh yes, there will be tears. Griffith’s recurring theme of bad things happening to innocent people is present once again in this film with vigor. The emotional simplicity of this film secures its place in movie-making history and is something that demands to be experienced by all.