Movie Rec of the Day: Broken Blossoms (USA 1919)

[dangermousie]

The movie recommendation of the day is Broken Blossoms, D.W. Griffith’s best film, and one of the best silent films ever made.



D.W. Griffith is remembered best today as an inventor of a wide variety of movie techniques (e.g. the close-up), and, less kindly, as the creator of Birth of a Nation, which while a revolutionary movie in many respects, is also deeply racist and offensive, as it glorifies the Klan.

However, interestingly, Griffith sank his profits from BoaN (and they were enormous) into two movies that seem expressly designed to contradict the racist, intolerant, backward PoV of BoaN. They were Intolerance and Broken Blossoms. Perhaps significantly, neither movie was a big hit (Intolerance flopped with superhuman speed). I think those two are the best Griffith movies I’ve seen. Intolerance, with its loose, episodic structure, deals with (you guessed it), man’s intolerance to man through the ages, on basis of religion, race, nationality (and yes, those temple dancers ARE topless. That was before the Code). Throughout the vignettes there interweaves a story of a young unwed mother whose child is about to be taken from her by the social services people ‘for the good of the child’ because “OMG!slut.”

But the movie that I really fell in love with is Broken Blossoms, a simple, spare, and gorgeous story of *gasp* interracial love. In a way, this tender, tragic love story between a young Chinese man who is shunned by the prejudiced whites and becomes an opium addict out of despair and alienation (played by non-Chinese Richard Barthelmess) and a young white abused daughter of a drunken boxer (played by Lillian Gish), set in the London slums, seems like a rejoinder to all those ridiculous scenes in BoaN where evil Black people try to rape the virginal Southern girls. BB is not a cheery movie. These people suffocate under lack of options, under lack of beauty, lack of love. And yet when RB and LG cross paths, for a few moments they both find respite and peace from the cruelty around them. I adore the scene where she stays at his house and he dresses her up in a traditional Chinese outfit, and for the first time in her life, she feels safe and treasured and it’s amazing to watch what those two can convey with just their eyes. But of course, her father finds out about this and…Like I said, not a happy movie but a brilliant, beautiful and tender one. I don’t know how Griffith could be the person who’d make both Birth of a Nation and Broken Blossoms (not to mention Intolerance). But all I know is, I am glad he made the latter because in many ways they are the best rebuttal to the former there is.

Comments

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

And he will forever be remembered for the racist movie simply because that's the one that is mentioned in the same breath as his name in every film class I've ever had. Rather unfortunate for him that he chose THAT work to turn into his magna opus and innovated movies at the same time. Of course people forget that that movie made money with crowds not because of it's innovation at the time, but because a lot of society echoed that mentality at that time.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Of course people forget that that movie made money with crowds not because of it's innovation at the time, but because a lot of society echoed that mentality at that time.

Yup. I find it so splendidly ironic that the hate opus made a bazillion $$$ and the tolerance epic sank like a stone.

It's a pity about Griffith because I really like a number of his movies, but all everyone remembers him for is BoaN.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

And I've often heard that Intolerance is the better of the two, but that's always in the same breath as "but he's better known for the racist movie". BoaN is one of those unfortunate movies that is made beautifully but focuses on the wrong subject. Also unfortunate because he sank into obscurity after making movies that DID focus on the right subject. I've seen parts of BoaN in military history class and agree that it really is in your face offensive (of course I find plenty of movies out nowdays in your face offensive too, for different reasons). A pitiful waste.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I've seen parts of BoaN in military history class and agree that it really is in your face offensive

Oh, it is. The scary thing is I read the book it's based on out of curiousity and it maked BoaN appear like a NAACP ad. Ugh.

But yes, the Griffith thing is very sad. He was so popular and well-known etc etc but today, everyone remembers his most horrible (in subject matter) movie.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

I remember sitting through BoaN in a film history class; don't think I ever saw another film where the Klan is portrayed as heroic! The textbook explained that Griffith was completely shocked at the controversy surrounding the film (it was considered racist even back then). He was a Southerner who grew up during Reconstruction and like you said, in 1915 an awful lot of people more or less saw blacks the same way. I think he felt the critics had a problem with his Southern heritage. Intolerance was meant to address those criticisms, but having seen some parts of it, it is an unusual narrative even by today's standards.

It is too bad because Griffith really was a genius, one of the first great directors. And as bad as BoaN can get, it doesn't touch the pure creepiness that is anything directed by the brilliant but morally deficient Leni Riefenstahl.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

And as bad as BoaN can get, it doesn't touch the pure creepiness that is anything directed by the brilliant but morally deficient Leni Riefenstahl

Indeed.

Re: Intolerance. Its nonlinear narrative structure would be 'arthouse' even now, but back then it must have really been mind-boggling. it's a puty because IMO it's a wonderful film.