Don't get caught up in the analytical trap. Broken Blossoms is a great film born of humble beginnings. Adapted from a minor short story by Thomas Burke, Broken Blossoms was a inexpensive and quickly-made film that became something more than the sum of its parts. Modern audiences are fortunate that the film has survived to this day to be seen and appreciated. We are grateful to Kino International and to video producer Bret Wood for putting together what can confidently be called the best home video edition of this great film available today.
Print scratches and flaws in both editions appear to be the same.
There is a fine patina of emulsion scuffing in some shots of the original release print, and at times there is more prominent print damage that does occasionally distract the viewer such as dust, emulsion speckling and chipping, and long vertical aperture scratches. However, the print is largely in very good condition, featuring sharp image details and a broad range of graytones, reproduced in the Kino edition in retrained sepia and color tones. The Kino transfer cropping reveals a little more image at the top and bottom of the picture and quite a bit more at the right side when compared to the Brownlow-Gill edition. 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.