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Broken Blossoms (1919)
aka: Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl
American silent film drama.
A frail waif, abused by her brutal boxer father in London’s seedy Limehouse District, is befriended by a sensitive Chinese immigrant.
According to Lillian Gish, the film was so well planned and rehearsed that the only editing that D.W. Griffith needed to do was snip off the beginnings and endings of scenes.
The film’s premiere engagement included a live prologue featuring a dance routine performed by actress Carol Dempster. During Dempster’s dance the stage was illuminated by blue and gold footlights. Later, during the screening of the film, a stagehand accidentally switched on those footlights and the movie screen tinted the film in an unusual way. D.W. Griffith, standing in the rear of the auditorium, was so surprised and delighted at the blue and gold-tinted effect that he ordered all copies of the film to be tinted in those colors during certain key sequences.
Broken Blossoms was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1996.
| Directed by | D. W. Griffith |
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| Written by | D. W. Griffith |
| Based on | “The Chink and the Child” by Thomas Burke |
| Produced by | D. W. Griffith |
| Starring | Lillian Gish Richard Barthelmess Donald Crisp |
| Cinematography | G.W. Bitzer |
| Edited by | James Smith |
| Music by | Joseph Turrin (2001 DVD release) |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release dates
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Running time
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90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
| Budget | $88,000 |
| Box office | $600,000 (US) |
