''Broken Blossoms'' is a 1936

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

John Brahm John Brahm (August 17, 1893 – October 12, 1982) was a German film and television director. His films include '' The Undying Monster'' (1942), '' The Lodger'' (1944), ''Hangover Square'' (1945), ''The Locket'' (1946), ''The Brasher Doubloon'' (1 ...

and starring

Emlyn Williams George Emlyn Williams, CBE (26 November 1905 – 25 September 1987) was a Welsh writer, dramatist and actor. Early life Williams was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family at 1 Jones Terrace, Pen-y-ffordd, Ffynnongroyw, Flints ...

Arthur Margetson Arthur Margetson (27 April 1887 – 13 August 1951) was a British stage and film actor. Margetson worked as a stockbroker before he became an actor. In 1936, Margetson married actress Shirley Grey. Filmography * ''Wolves'' (1930) as Mark (fi ...

Basil Radford Arthur Basil RadfordAdam Greaves, "Radford, (Arthur) Basil (1897–1952)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, May 201available online Retrieved 3 August 2020. (25 June 189720 October 1952) was an English charac ...

and

Edith Sharpe Edith Mary Sharpe (14 September 1894 – 6 June 1984) was a British actress. Born in Hackney, London. She married Alexander Francis Part in 1931 and had one child. She appeared in TV series such as Dixon of Dock Green, Z Cars, Emergency Ward ...

. Director

Bernard Vorhaus Bernard Vorhaus (December 25, 1904 – November 23, 2000) was an American film director of Austrian descent, born in New York City. His father was born in Krakow, then part of Austria-Hungary. Vorhaus spent many decades living in the UK. Eearly ...

was technical supervisor.BFI Database entry
/ref> The film is based on the short story "The Chink and the Child" by Thomas Burke from his collection '' Limehouse Nights'' (1916), and was produced at

Twickenham Studios Twickenham Studios (formerly known as Twickenham Film Studios) is a film studio in St Margarets, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, that is used by various motion picture and television companies. It was established in 1913 by Ralph ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The story had previously been adapted by D. W. Griffith for his film '' Broken Blossoms'' (1919) starring Lillian Gish.

Plot

A Chinese

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

comes to London where he works in the

slums A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily in ...

and helps a young girl being ill-treated by her abusive father.

Cast

* Dolly Haas as Lucy Burrows *

as Chen *

as Battling Burrows * C. V. France as High Priest *

as Mr. Reed *

as Mrs. Reed *

Ernest Jay Ernest Jay (18 September 1893 – 8 February 1957) was a British actor. Selected filmography * '' My Lucky Star'' (1933) - Press Agent * '' Tiger Bay'' (1934) - Alf * '' The Iron Duke'' (1934) - First Orderly * '' The Phantom Light'' (1935) ...

as Alf *

Bertha Belmore Bertha Belmore (22 December 1882 – 14 December 1953) was an English stage and film actress. Part of the Belmore family of British actors through her marriage to actor Herbert Belmore, she began her career as a child actress in British pantomim ...

as Daisy *

Gibb McLaughlin George McLoughlin (19 July 1879 – 30 June 1961), known professionally as Gibb McLaughlin, was an English film and stage actor. Early days McLaughlin was born in Sunderland, County Durham, England in 1879. For about 10 years he was a sales ...

as Evil Eye *

Ernest Sefton Ernest Sefton (born as Ernest Henry Tipton; 13 January 1883 in Hackney, London – 5 December 1954) was a British film actor. He was the brother of Violet Loraine. Selected filmography * ''The Sign of Four'' (1932) * ''The Innocents of Chi ...

as Manager *

Donald Calthrop Donald Esme Clayton Calthrop (11 April 1888 – 15 July 1940) was an English stage and film actor. Born in London, Calthrop was educated at St Paul's School and made his first stage appearance at eighteen years of age at the Comedy Theatr ...

as Old Chinaman *

Kathleen Harrison Kathleen Harrison (23 February 1892 – 7 December 1995) was a prolific English character actress best remembered for her role as Mrs. Huggett (opposite Jack Warner and Petula Clark) in a trio of British post-war comedies about a worki ...

as Mrs. Lossy * Kenneth Villiers as Missionary * Dorothy Minto as Woman * Sam Wilkinson as Guide *

Jerry Verno Jerry Verno (26 July 1895 – 29 June 1975) was a British film actor. He appeared in 39 films between 1931 and 1966, including five films directed by Michael Powell, and two with Alfred Hitchcock. He was born in London. As well as appearing ...

as Bert

References

External links

* * 1936 films 1936 drama films Films directed by John Brahm Films based on short fiction Films based on works by Thomas Burke British drama films British black-and-white films Films set in London British remakes of American films Sound film remakes of silent films 1930s English-language films 1930s British films Films shot at Twickenham Film Studios {{1930s-UK-film-stub