Broken Blossoms main backdrop
Broken Blossoms main poster

Broken Blossoms

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5.9/10 • 7

1936-05-201h 24m

DramaRomance

A Chinese missionary comes to England. He helps a young girl ill-treated by her father. A remake of D. W. Griffith's Masterpiece.

Directors
John Brahm
Writters
Emlyn Williams
Editors
Emlyn Williams, Ralph Kemplen

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Emlyn Williams

    Emlyn Williams

    Chen Huan

  2. Dolly Haas

    Dolly Haas

    Lucy Burrows

  3. Arthur Margetson

    Arthur Margetson

    Battling Burrows

  4. Gibb McLaughlin

    Gibb McLaughlin

    Evil Eye

  5. C. V. France

    C. V. France

    High Priest

  6. Basil Radford

    Basil Radford

    Mr. Reed

  7. Edith Sharpe

    Edith Sharpe

    Mrs. Reed

  8. Ernest Jay

    Ernest Jay

    Alf

  9. Bertha Belmore

    Bertha Belmore

    Daisy

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Jun 19, 2022

6/10

I have only recently seen the original silent version of this film from 1919, and although this certainly lacks the intensity of that Lillian Gish/Richard Barthelmess adaptation, it is still an engaging film to watch with a really effective last fifteen minutes. The story of "Chen" (Emlyn Williams), a peace loving Buddhist who comes from China to London bearing his gifts of spirituality and kindness. Needless to say, he is met with cynicism amongst the bigoted and hard-nosed East Londoners and has his work cut out. "Lucy" (Dolly Haas) lives with her brute of a father "Burrows" (Arthur Margetson) - a boxer who drinks and then takes his frustrations out on his child. After one such beating, "Chen" takes her in and restores her to health before her father, and a band of misfits intervene - with tragic consequences all round. It's a simple story of intolerance and prejudice, of sympathy and violence and is presented to us as a well executed piece of poignant cinema. It looks like there wasn't much of a budget, but that doesn't' really matter - it helps the earthy, seediness of their environs as do the performances from the ensemble, especially Gibb McLaughlin ("Evil Eye") as well as the aways reliable Kathleen Harrison. If you haven't seen the original, then I hope that this persuades you to. If you have, then I wouldn't judge this too harshly. Some films just worked better without dialogue, and though that is pretty sparse here - this may just be one

Media

  • Broken Blossoms poster
  • Broken Blossoms poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
remakeracism