D.W. Griffith has always been a director who I “should” like, but just haven’t connected with. He invented so much of the language filmmakers use and movies wouldn’t be the same without him–but I’ve always found his movies to lack a certain sense of soul. I can admire the inventive techniques, but I wouldn’t want watch one of his for fun–and that’s to say nothing of the racism that pervades everything I’ve seen from him so far.

That said, Broken Blossoms is the best work I’ve seen from him. It’s melodramatic, but it sort of works? If I were teaching a class on silent film or Griffith this is certainly the one I’d choose to lead with. I appreciated Gish (the “closet scene” was certainly intense and especially loved the moments of production design that evoked the squalid London docks. (Also was unprepared to learn of the apparent inspiration for The Shining’s axe scene?) The racism is still intense and unrelenting, but that’s what you get with Griffith.