Emlyn Williams

Dolly Haas

Arthur Margetson

Gibb McLaughlin

C. V. France

Basil Radford

Edith Sharpe

Ernest Jay

Bertha Belmore

Ernest Sefton

Donald Calthrop

Kathleen Harrison

Kenneth Villiers

Dorothy Minto

Sam Wilkinson

Jerry Verno

Pamela Bevan

Patricia Hayes

Aubrey Mallalieu

Edie Martin

Billy Wells

John Brahm

Thomas Burke

Charles

Hal Young

Paul Minine

Baynham Honri

Curt Courant

Ralph Kemplen

Julius Hagen

Karol Rathaus

Carlisle Mounteney

W.L. Trytel

James A. Carter

James Davidson

Drama

Romance

Broken Blossoms

Twickenham Film Studios

Julius Hagen Productions

United Kingdom

CinemaSerf

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

English