Broken Blossoms

D.W. Griffith's tragic tale of a frail girl named Lucy who befriends a sensitive Chinese immigrant in London's seedy Limehouse District is generally regarded as one of the greatest films of the silent era. Starring Lillian Gish as Lucy, Richard Barthelmess as the Chinese man, and Donald Crisp as Lucy's brutal father, this quiet little film still manages to be shocking and heartbreaking nearly a century after it was first shown.