Broken flowers

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Movie
German title Broken flowers
Original title Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1919
length 90 minutes
Rod
Director David Wark Griffith
script David Wark Griffith based on Thomas Burke's story The Chink and the Child
production David Wark Griffith
music David Wark Griffith
camera GW Bitzer
cut James Smith
occupation

Broken Blossoms (English-language original title: Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl , alternative German title: A blossom broken ) is an American drama by director David Wark Griffith from 1919 , based on a story by British author Thomas Burke . In 1996 the film was entered into the National Film Registry .

action

Cheng Huan leaves his native China to make the Buddha's teachings known in the West. His optimism disappears after learning about the brutal reality of the city of London. During his mission, Huan meets the broken flower, Lucy Burrows, the abused adopted daughter of the prize boxer Battling Burrows.

After being abused and beaten by the Battling Burrows one night, Lucy finds refuge with Cheng. Cheng takes care of the injured in his exotic room above his shop. A love story begins between the two outcasts. But when a customer recognizes Lucy at Cheng's, and puts her father in the picture, he drags her back home in shame, where she locks herself in a closet out of fear of death.

When Cheng finally reaches her house, all he finds is her body, and her face begins to smile for the first time. The drunken Battling Burrows meets the grieving Cheng and attacks him with a hatchet, whereupon he is shot by Cheng. He carries Lucy's corpse home, where he kills himself with a knife in front of a Buddhist shrine.

reception

Censorship decision of April 17, 1925

The silent film Broken Flowers was originally produced for the film production company Paramount Pictures under the direction of Adolph Zukor . After director David Wark Griffith founded the distribution company United Artists on February 5, 1919, together with Charles Chaplin , Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford , films were required for their distribution apparatus. Griffith bought the distribution rights from Paramount Pictures and had his film exploited by United Artists. The film Broken Blossoms premiered on May 13, 1919 in New York and was the first feature film to be evaluated by United Artists. It was not until May 1923 that the silent film was shown for the first time in Germany. He received a youth ban in Germany on May 9, 1923. On the other hand, an application by the Baden state government to revoke the approval of the film because of its “brutalizing” effect was rejected by the film inspectorate in Berlin on April 17, 1925.

Broken Blossoms was later mostly praised by film critics; at Rotten Tomatoes , 20 of the 21 reviews are positive. Roger Ebert praises Lilian Gish's acting performance and Griffiths' atmospheric direction. The portrayal of Asians in films may seem stereotypical today, but was progressive back then and advocated tolerance between people of different origins. The film service sees Broken Blossoms as a "masterpiece" by Griffith; his "concentrated condensation of space and time, combined with atmospheric photography and virtuoso acting performances" would have had a decisive influence on the French impressionist film as well as the German chamber feature film of the 1920s.

literature

  • Iris Barry : DW Griffith. American Film Master (= Museum of Modern Art Film Library Series. Vol. 1, ZDB -ID 2741579-X ). Museum of Modern Art, New York NY 1940 (reprinted there in 2002, ISBN 0-87070-683-7 ).
  • Paul O'Dell: Griffith and the Rise of Hollywood. Barnes & Co. et al., New York NY 1970, ISBN 0-498-07718-7 .
  • Thomas Koebner : Broken Blossoms / The Yellow Man and the Girl. In: Thomas Koebner (Ed.): Classic films. Descriptions and Comments. = Reclam film classics. Volume 1: 1913-1945. 5th, revised and expanded edition. Reclam junior, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-15-030033-9 , pp. 42-45.
  • Richard Schickel : DW Griffith. American Life. Simon and Schuster, New York NY 1984, ISBN 0-671-22596-0 .
  • Scott Simmon: The Films of DW Griffith. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1993, ISBN 0-521-38820-1 .
  • Martin Williams : Griffith. First Artist of the Movies. Oxford University Press, New York NY et al. 1980, ISBN 0-19-502685-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Decisions of the film supervisory board
  2. ↑ Broken Blossoms (1919, Rotten Tomatoes). Retrieved April 12, 2019 .
  3. ^ Roger Ebert: Broken Blossoms Movie Review & Film Summary (1919) | Roger Ebert. Retrieved April 12, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Broken Blossoms (1919) - Filmdienst. Retrieved April 12, 2019 .