Review: Broken Blossoms (1919), D.W. Griffith’s Interracial Romance

D. W. Griffith was one of the most ambitious and influential American directors of the silent movie era. His camera work and complex narratives forever shaped the future of Hollywood filmmaking. His most famous project, The Birth of a Nation (1915), became one of the most popular films of its time. However, it also put Griffith’s racist views on full display. Despite his talent as a filmmaker, critics and viewers often criticized Griffith’s work for the underlying racism and cultural insensitivity. In Broken Blossoms (1919), Griffith’s innovative stylistic and narrative techniques are present, as well as his racial undertones. The latter quality even shows up in the film’s full title: Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl.

In any case, Broken Blossoms tells the story of a Chinese man named Cheng Huan (played by non-Chinese actor, Richard Barthelmess) who leaves his home in China to spread the peace of the Buddhist religion to the “barbarous Anglo-Saxons” of the West. Upon his arrival in London, Huan quickly realizes that the West is not welcoming to him or his Eastern views. Downtrodden and alone, Huan happens upon a beautiful young woman, Lucy Burrows (played by Lucy Burrows), and falls in love. 

Lucy is the daughter of an abusive prizefighter known as “Battling Burrows,” and after a harsh beating from her father, she stumbles into Huan’s shop and falls to the ground. Huan nurses Lucy back to health and the two quickly develop an intimate bond. However, a friend of Burrows discovers Lucy at Huan’s home and goes to tell her father. 

Spoilers to follow — Burrows, enraged that his daughter has fallen in love with a Chinese man, sets out to kill Huan and Lucy. After dragging Lucy back to his house, Burrows beats her to death and leaves her on the bed. Huan discovers her body, and when Burrows attempts to kill him with a hatchet, Huan shoots and kills Burrows. In the final scene of the film, Huan carries Lucy’s body back to his home and kills himself with a knife.

The narrative of Broken Blossoms is reminiscent of a Shakespearean tragedy, with significant ties to Romeo & Juliet. Nonetheless, Griffith uses the complex and controversial topic of race relations to set the stage for his tragic love story. However, while the film excels in many areas, one could argue that Griffith doesn’t do enough to counter Broken Blossoms’ “yellow peril” undertones.

Griffith makes Cheng Huan a sympathetic character, but there are many narrative and aesthetic elements that are noticeably racist by today’s standards. As previously mentioned, the full title of the film is Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl. As previously mentioned, rather than using an actual Chinese actor for the lead role, Griffith cast Richard Barthelmess as the Buddhist priest (common practice in Hollywood at the time). The filmmakers use heavy eye makeup and “squinting” to give the viewer the impression that Barthelmess is Chinese, but the ruse is obvious. Moreover, the intertitles frequently display words like “Chink” and “heathen” to refer to Huan and other Asian immigrants.

Aesthetically, Broken Blossoms reflects many of the stylistic choices for which D. W. Griffith became famous. Griffith utilizes still shots for the vast majority of the film. That said, in a few instances, the camera pans from side to side to catch certain actions. For example, during Battling Burrows’ boxing match, the camera pans left and right to keep the fighters near the center of the frame. Toward the beginning of the film, the camera pans left to watch Huan ride a cart through the streets of his hometown. It may sound like simple film practice today, but these scenes took a great deal of planning and innovation for a filmmaker in 1919.

Griffith also uses color to enhance the film’s visual style and emphasize certain narrative elements. For example, the film is often tinted green during outdoor scenes and blue during outdoor, nighttime scenes. In one scene, red tinting signifies the lighting of a lamp. The staging and lighting of the film are pretty standard for the silent film era. 

Griffith uses heavy key and fill lighting to illuminate the character’s faces. The characters themselves stay at the center of the frame, with the majority of the shots at a medium distance. However, close-ups and even extreme close-ups convey the character’s emotions. When Lucy is lying in the bed and Huan begins to approach her, the camera switches to an extreme close up of Huan’s face, with a heavy backlight that creates a halo around his head. In this scene, Lucy first feels frightened by Huan’s intensity, but soon realizes that his intentions are pure (as confirmed by the intertitle that immediately follows). This same style reappears in a later scene, where Burrows is bearing down on Lucy. The extreme close up of Burrow’s face shows his anger, followed by a close up of Lucy’s frightened expression.

To assist the narrative, Griffith manipulates time effectively in Broken Blossoms. He frequently uses fade-ins and fade-outs to indicate a change in time and space. However, he sometimes just puts them in for standard transition shots. Intercutting, a method for manipulating space that D. W. Griffith became known for, is used several times in Broken Blossoms to enhance the viewer’s understanding of the action. In one such instance, the camera switches between shots of Huan standing against a building looking sad, to multiple shots of him and other Asian men in an opium den. This intercutting helps convey the sadness that Huan feels for the current state of his life. Griffith also cuts between shots of Battling Burrows’ fight and an intimate scene between Huan and Lucy. This helps emphasize the difference between Huan (peaceful) and Battling Burrows (violent).

Personally, I found the film to be very entertaining, albeit offensive. The relationship between Huan and Lucy is very moving. Additionally, Donald Crisp’s portrayal of the drunken, abusive father makes him the perfect antagonist. Huan’s character is very sympathetic and his final revenge on Battling Burrows is bittersweet. Overall, Broken Blossoms is a very good film and a prime example of D. W. Griffith’s ability to create a cohesive narrative without the help of sound, despite its more offensive shortcomings. 

Griffith’s casting choices and casual use of racist terms prevent Broken Blossoms from aging very well. However, when compared to some of Griffith’s other films, Broken Blossoms feels quite progressive. Huan is clearly the protagonist, while Battling Burrows is the antagonist whose racism and violent nature lead to a tragic ending. Thus, if you can look past the outdated casting and terminology, Broken Blossoms is a fantastic and well-made silent film.

Broken Blossoms Movie Rating: ★★★★ out of 5

If you’d like to watch Broken Blossoms (1919), it is currently available to rent or purchase via Amazon. For more film reviews like this one, be sure to check out the Philosophy in Film Homepage!