Broken Blossoms (1919, DW Griffith)

Local boxer beats his wife until she runs into the arms of an adoring Chinese shopkeeper. Multiple gossipy spies get involved, jealousy ensues, everyone dies. Nice story but the titles doing too much heavy lifting; they hadn’t invented cinematography yet. Lillian Gish (who I just watched yesterday in Night of the Hunter) lives a dismal life here. A weak tree with branches for no birds, good for nothin’ in this old world, I spent half of the movie thinking she should jump into the river. Battling Donald Crisp would also be third-billed in a 1955 movie, as the ranch owner of The Man From Laramie. Fake Chinese Guy is Bat, the guy everyone hates in Only Angels Have Wings. the famously anti-racist DW Griffith: