The most-discussed scene in "Broken Blossoms" is the "closet" scene. Gish writhes in the claustrophobic space like a tortured animal who knows there is no escape. Critic Richard Schickel writes, "It is heartbreaking – yet for the most part quite delicately controlled by the actress. Barthelmess reports that her hysteria was induced by Griffith’s taunting of her. Gish claims that she improvised the child’s tortured movements on the spot and that when she finished the scene there was a hush on stage. Griffith then exclaimed, 'My God, why didn’t you warn me you were going to do that?'”. The scene also demonstrates Griffith's ability to create an aural effect with only an image. Gish's screams apparently attracted such a crowd outside the studio that people needed to be held back.