Yet in the Brownlow-Gill transfer he is all but totally cropped out of the picture, logically compromising the shot. For us, the only shortcoming in the Kino edition was the new music score by Joseph Turrin, which was performed on synthesizers and digital piano. We also prefer true orchestras to synthetic orchestras. However, Kino producer Bret Wood has compiled a number of extras accompanying this DVD edition. Among other tidbits, Gish recalls how she developed the bit of acting business where she uses her fingers to push the corners of her mouth into an artificial smile to please her abusive father.
All text is very readable on any size television screen.
Even the main menu shows the care given to this DVD edition. A simple motion and sound loop of Lillian Gish as Lucy quietly sitting on the London docks, with lapping water, distant gulls and a nautical bell, graces the main menu screen. For years we have been an enthusiastic proponent of the Brownlow-Gill edition of Broken Blossoms on home video. But now we highly recommend this new Kino home video edition, that is head and shoulders above any other, for its sharp, pleasing new video transfer, the handful of DVD extras, and for its clearly recorded and sophisticated music score in Dolby Digital stereo. Lillian Gish filmography in The Progressive Silent Film List.