Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl

"A Tale of Forbidden Love"

Oct 20 1919 Not Rated 1h 30m
Drama, Romance

The love story of an abused English girl and a Chinese Buddhist in a time when London was a brutal and harsh place to live.

Plot

Cheng Huan is a missionary whose goal is to bring the teachings of peace by Buddha to the civilized Anglo-Saxons. Upon landing in England, he is quickly disillusioned by the intolerance and apathy of the country. He becomes a storekeeper of a small shop. Out his window, he sees the young Lucy Burrows. She is regularly beaten by her prizefighter father, underfed and wears ragged clothes. Even in this deplorable condition, Cheng can see that she is a priceless beauty and he falls in love with her from afar. On the day that she passes out in front of his store, he takes her in and cares for her. With nothing but love in his heart, he dresses her in silks and provides food for her. Still weak, she stays in his shop that night and all that Cheng does is watch over her. The peace and happiness that he sees last only until Battling Burrows finds out that his daughter is with a foreigner.

Written by

Thomas Burke, D.W. Griffith

Directed by

D.W. Griffith

Production Countries

United States of America

Production Companies

United Artists, D.W. Griffith Productions

Languages

No Language

Awards

1 win

Scores
# of Votes
11,394
Average Rating
7.2 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA