Surprising, Typical Melodrama
(originally posted on IMDb 22 August 2005)

"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 and is even more so for its production design and camerawork. Additionally, perhaps, in part, because of its precedence in cinema, the film somehow overcomes the flaws inherent in the tradition.

Richard Barthelmess plays a Chinese man 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.

The story is centered 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 is meant to 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 tolerable enough considering the era. 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 create the atmosphere for the picture. "Billy" Bitzer's photography is brilliant in a similar vein. With the aid of Hendrik Sartov's soft-focus 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 cinema. I'm surprised how well this film works.

(Included on my list of 25 Best Films of the 1910s.)