An incredibly beautiful, tender film. What is amazing is that the leading man was not really Asian, and Lillian Gish, who portrays a young girl, was a mature adult. Their portrayals were so convincing.
There was always a youthfulness to Gish. When she starred in Whales of August in 1987 with Bette Davis she still played the younger sister even though she was 93 years old at the time and was 15 years older than Davis
Lillian Gish (1893 - 1993) was older than Richard Barthelmess (1895 - 1963) by 2 years. He didn’t transition to sound very well and his acting method didn’t really suit it. He did however put in a brilliant performance in Howard Hawks's Only Angels Have Wings (1939) his last film
Oh, my- a young Donald Crisp! When this was made, he had already been in films for over a decade! Four years earlier, he was General Grant in Birth of a Nation. Gotta love any Lillian Gish film. Love you, Miss Lillian!❤
The called her the First Lady Of The American Cinema for a very good reason. She broke the mold on how they acted in silent films. From the over-the-top exaggerated movements, to a more realistic form. She could say more with a simple gesture, look and suttle movement than anyone. She was the best by far.
I usually try to avoid musical accompaniment to silents films because they’re either scene inappropriate and/or annoying. But in this case I agree with you. The music was outstanding and blended perfectly with the visuals. Unfortunately I have no idea who the composer was/is.
@@thomasleary6287 On Broken Blossoms' IMDb page under cast & crew there are two separate scores listed, the Carl Davis one from the 80s and the Joseph Turrin one from 2001. The latter appears on the Kino Lorber DVD release, whereupon watching I was able to determine the difference between these, which I did not know at first. That one is my favorite personally but this one is lovely also.
Perhaps not noticed of every movie then picturized to end with a beautiful love story?! People forget that when the worst of times prevailed for capture both into frames...
i might be late in responding, but after birth of a nation and the response he received, he made two movies 1 was intolerance, and the second was this. A good way to look at these three movies is as him reflecting on himself and learning from his wrong doings, it does suck that birth of a nation is such a racist movie but its good to see people change, even a little.
I watched this film a long time ago but i remember so little of it.... i only really remember the end where the girl died and the chinese man finds her body :/ This film is haunting and beautiful at the same time....
Jesus… happened to learn about this movie while searching for a phrase used in a collection of documents on the Great Depression. I thought the premise had potential, but any significance the film could have held is marred by a hideously outdated depiction of Asians. The film was described as “progressive,” but I’m sure upon the release of the film, someone must have asked, “why couldn’t they get a Chinese man to act in it?”
They didn't, actually. Nobody thought much of yellowface, and putting an actual Asian man in the role might have invited controversy because of the romantic overtones, as absurd as that sounds today.
