Limehouse Nights is a 1916 short story collection by the British writer Thomas Burke. The stories are set in and around the Chinatown that was then centred on Limehouse in the East End of London. The book was a popular success and features several of Burke's best-known stories such as "The Chink and the Child" and "Beryl and the Croucher".
Four films have been based upon stories collected in Limehouse Nights. The story "The Chink and the Child" was turned into the 1919 film Broken Blossoms directed by D.W. Griffith [1] and its 1936 remake. [2] The story "Twelve Golden Curls" became the film Curlytop in 1924. [3] "Beryl and the Croucher" was filmed in 1949 as No Way Back [4] and set in the contemporary East End as part of the Spiv cycle of films made in the years following the Second World War.
Limehouse Nights was the inspiration for an eponymous piano piece by the renowned American composer George Gershwin.
Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl, often referred to simply as Broken Blossoms, is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. It was distributed by United Artists and premiered on May 13, 1919. It stars Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, and Donald Crisp, and tells the story of young girl, Lucy Burrows, who is abused by her alcoholic prizefighting father, Battling Burrows, and meets Cheng Huan, a kind-hearted Chinese man who falls in love with her. It was the first film distributed by United Artists. It is based on Thomas Burke's short story "The Chink and the Child" from the 1916 collection Limehouse Nights. In 1996, Broken Blossoms was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures to be added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is 3.9 miles (6.3 km) east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through its riverside public houses and steps, such as The Grapes and Limehouse Stairs. It is part of the traditional county of Middlesex. It became part of the ceremonial County of London following the passing of the Local Government Act 1888, and then part of Greater London in 1965.
Thomas Burke was a British author. He was born in Clapham Junction, London.
Beryl Mercer was a Spanish-born American actress of stage and screen who was based in the United States.
Dream Street is a 1921 American silent romantic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith, and starring Carol Dempster, Charles Emmett Mack, and Ralph Graves in a story about a love triangle set in London, and based on two short stories by Thomas Burke, "Gina of Chinatown" and "Song of the Lamp". The cast also features Tyrone Power Sr.
While London Sleeps is a 1926 Warner Bros. film about a police-dog, Rinty, who helps Scotland Yard defeat a dangerous criminal organisation known as the Mediterranean Brotherhood that operates out of the Limehouse district of London. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the Vitaphone sound-on-disc process. Walter Morosco wrote the screenplay. It was the first of many films directed by Howard Bretherton, and one of several created for Rin Tin Tin, a German Shepherd dog used in films during the 1920s and 1930s. Only the sound discs to the film survive today with the visual film portions being lost. The British release prints censored the more horrific aspects of the film.
This page is a complete bibliography of the English author Thomas Burke.
Harold Elliott Makeham was an English film and television actor.
London is a 1926 British silent romantic drama film, directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Dorothy Gish. The film was adapted by Wilcox from a short story by popular author Thomas Burke. The British Film Institute considers this to be a lost film.
Broken Blossoms is a 1936 British drama film directed by John Brahm and starring Emlyn Williams, Arthur Margetson, Basil Radford and Edith Sharpe. Director Bernard Vorhaus was technical supervisor.
The White Rose is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith. The film was written, produced, and directed by Griffith, and stars Mae Marsh, Ivor Novello, Carol Dempster, and Neil Hamilton. Though this film is extant, it is one of Griffith's rarely seen films.
No Way Back is a 1949 British crime film directed by Stefan Osiecki and starring Terence De Marney, Eleanor Summerfield and Jack Raine. The screenplay concerns an injured boxer who sinks into bad company when his fighting career comes to an end leading to a spiral of crime. It was made at Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames.
Twinkletoes is a 1926 American silent romantic drama film directed by Charles Brabin and starring Colleen Moore. The film, as with most of Moore's vehicles at this time, was produced by her husband John McCormick with the couple distributing through Moore's resident studio First National. This film is one of Moore's surviving films from the late silent era and is available on DVD.
"Beryl and the Croucher" is a short story by the British writer Thomas Burke which was part of his 1916 collection Limehouse Nights. A washed-up boxer, known as "the Croucher" for his distinctive fighting style, having fought his last fight sinks into dissipation and crime in the East End of London. His only hope to recover his former sense of self-worth is a former lover named Beryl.
Bachelor Brides is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by William K. Howard and starring Rod La Rocque, Elinor Fair, and Eulalie Jensen. It is based on a 1925 British-set stage play of the same name by Charles Horace Malcolm.
Curlytop is a lost 1924 American silent romantic drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Shirley Mason, Wallace MacDonald, and Warner Oland. It is based on one of the short stories collected in Limehouse Nights by Thomas Burke.