''Son of the Gods'' is a 1930 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

romantic drama film with

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

sequences, produced and released by

First National Pictures First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the count ...

, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. It was adapted from the novel of the same name by Rex Beach.

Richard Barthelmess Richard Semler Barthelmess (May 9, 1895 – August 17, 1963) was an American film actor, principally of the Hollywood silent era. He starred opposite Lillian Gish in D. W. Griffith's ''Broken Blossoms'' (1919) and ''Way Down East'' (1920) and w ...

and

Constance Bennett Constance Campbell Bennett (October 22, 1904 – July 24, 1965) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid ...

star as a couple in love who have a falling out when she discovers that, though he looks Caucasian, he is actually Chinese.

Plot

Sam Lee (Barthelmess) is the only son of extremely wealthy Chinese merchant Lee Ying. Sam can

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places *Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland * Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits *Mountain pass, a lower place in a mounta ...

as white. Lee Ying sends him to a prestigious university, where he studies hard. He is tolerated in white social circles, even though it is known there that he is Chinese, because of his money. One day, two fellow students talk him into a triple date, but the white girls are outraged when they find out that they are out with a "dirty yellow Chinaman". They pressure the two white men to make up a transparently fake excuse to leave. Insulted, Sam drops out of school. He tells Lee Ying that he is going to travel on his own, without his father's financial support. He takes a lowly job aboard a ship and ends up working for a novelist named Bathurst because of his knowledge of Chinese. In the south of France, Sam meets Allana Wagner (Bennett), the spoiled daughter of an indulgent father. Allana falls madly in love with Sam. Though Sam loves her too, he is afraid to pursue a relationship until she tells him that she was once engaged to a man from India. Everything goes well for a while. One day, however, Allana's father tells her he has found out that Sam is Chinese. She flies into a rage and repeatedly lashes Sam in public with her

riding crop Riding is a homonym of two distinct English words: From the word ride * In equestrianism, riding a horse * Riding animal, animal bred or trained for riding * Riding hall, building designed for indoor horse riding From Old English ''*þriðing'' ...

, revealing to all within earshot why. Later, she deeply regrets what she did and telephones to apologize, but Sam has returned home to New York City, having received word that his father is very ill. Sam rushes home, only to find that his father has died, attended on his deathbed by Eileen, a childhood white friend of Sam's. (Lee Ying never forgot Eileen's uncle's kindness to him, and had made Eileen his very well-paid secretary.) Embittered, Sam renounces the white world and its Christian values and embraces his Chinese heritage. He runs his father's business empire with an iron fist, denying his white customers credit. Meanwhile, Allana embarks on a wild round of non-stop partying to try to forget Sam, but only succeeds in ruining her health. One day, she collapses and is near death. In her delirium, she calls for Sam repeatedly. Her racist father reluctantly asks Sam to come see her. Sam pays a visit, and Allana recovers. Finally Eileen sends for her uncle Dugan. He tells Sam that, while a policeman in San Francisco, he found an abandoned child. Assuming that he was Chinese, Dugan gave the boy to Lee Ying and his wife, who had been praying for a child. After a few years, it became apparent that the boy was actually white. Since Sam was never formally adopted, Dugan recommends to Lee Ying that he relocate to New York to avoid risking losing Sam. Unable to quench her love for Sam, Allana tells him that she wants to marry him before he has a chance to tell her that he is white. The lovers are happily reunited.

Cast

*Richard Barthelmess as Sam Lee *Constance Bennett as Allana Wagner *

Anders Randolf Anders Randolf (December 18, 1870 – July 2, 1930) was a Danish American actor in American films from 1913 to 1930. Biography Anders was born in Viborg, Denmark, where he became a professional soldier in the Danish army and a world-class swo ...

as Wagner, Allana's father * E. Alyn Warren as Lee Ying *

Claude King Claude King (February 5, 1923 – March 7, 2013) was an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for his million selling 1962 hit, " Wolverton Mountain". Biography King was born in Keithville in southern Caddo Parish sou ...

as Bathurst *

Frank Albertson Francis Healey Albertson (February 2, 1909 – February 29, 1964) was an American actor who had supporting roles in films such as ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946) and ''Psycho (1960 film), Psycho'' (1960). Early life Albertson was a nat ...

as Kicker *King Hou Chang as Moy *Mildred Van Dorn as Eileen *Barbara Leonard as Mabel

Reception

Box Office

According to Warner Bros recordss the film earned $1,069,000 domestically and $363,000 foreign.

Critical

Critic

Mordaunt Hall Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', writing that "After a none too hopeful beginning, Richard Barthelmess's latest talking film, 'Son of the Gods,' plods its weary way through banal episodes" and that "Mr. Barthelmess is not the genius who can turn to good account the character allotted to him in this uninspired narrative".

Preservation

The film only survives in black and white. One reel was originally in Technicolor, but no color prints seem to have survived.The United Artists Collection
/ref> This reel tells the story of how Sam was adopted as a child by the Chinese man he thought was his father. Current prints present this originally color sequence in sepia-tone.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Son Of The Gods 1930 films 1930s color films American romantic drama films 1930s English-language films Films about racism in the United States Films based on American novels Films based on works by Rex Beach Films directed by Frank Lloyd Films set in France Films set in New York City Films set in San Francisco Films partially in color First National Pictures films Warner Bros. films 1930 romantic drama films 1930s American films