The Toll of the Sea
Director: Chester Franklin
Year: 1922
Rating: 6.0
Though interesting primarily from a historical perspective, this retelling
of the Madame Butterfly story set in China this time still has an emotional
resonance - white man is saved by native girl; falls in love with her; goes
back home to his white woman leaving the native girl pregnant and tragedy
ensues. It has been told more than a few times and in truth living in Thailand
I have seen it play out here in small ways.
But it is the historical aspects of the film that matter - this 1922 silent
film had thought to be lost was found and restored and is part of a four
DVD package called Treasures from American Archives which is full of goodies.
The Toll of the Sea was the first feature film to utilize two strip Technicolor
of green and red. It looks lovely and was able to be played with a regular
theater projector. I wonder why it didn't catch on until years later. It
is also the first starring role for Anna May Wong who was 17 at the time.
She would go to a fascinating life of ups and downs and is an iconic figure
in American-Asian film. The last two reels of the film are still lost and
the archivists filmed a suitable ending using the same technology that implies
how the film ends.
Part of the plot revolves around Lotus Flower wanting to go live in America
with her husband - but a mere two years after this film was shot Congress
passed an Immigration Act that made it pretty much impossible for Asians,
Africans and Southern Europeans to immigrate to America. The bill that Jeff
Sessions thinks so highly of and that we need again according to him.
