''The Dragon Painter'' is a 1919

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

silent romance drama film. It is based on the novel of the same name, written by Mary McNeil Fenollosa. It stars

Sessue Hayakawa , known professionally as , was a Japanese actor and a matinée idol. He was a popular star in Hollywood during the silent film era of the 1910s and early 1920s. Hayakawa was the first actor of Asian descent to achieve stardom as a leading man ...

as a young painter who believes that his fiancée (played by Hayakawa's wife

Tsuru Aoki was a Japanese stage and screen actress whose career was most prolific in the United States during the silent film era of the 1910s through the 1920s. Aoki may have been the first Asian actress to garner top billing in American motion pictures. ...

), is a princess who has been captured and turned into a dragon. It was directed by William Worthington and filmed in

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Hal ...

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...

, and in the Japanese Tea Garden in Coronado, California. ''The Dragon Painter'' was restored in 1988 by the American Film Institute with the

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

and MoMA. In 2014, the film was added to the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

Tatsu (Hayakawa) lives within the mountains of Hakawa, Japan, creating a series of paintings and disposing of them upon completion, shouting to the gods to return his fiancée, a princess who he believed was turned into a dragon. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Kano Indara (Peil, Sr.), a famous painter, seeks a protege and heir to continue the family bloodline of master paintings. Tatsu heads to a nearby village and demands some paper from the locals. His unusual behavior catches the attention of Uchida (Fujita), a surveyor and friend of Indara. While on a surveying expedition in the mountains, one of Tatsu's discarded paintings comes into Uchida's possession. Amazed at the artwork, Uchida invites Tatsu to Tokyo, claiming that Indara knows the whereabouts of the lost princess. Tatsu arrives at a dinner prepared in his honor, but his wild disposition causes a ruckus. He throws a cushion and chases off other guests. Tatsu is about to leave when Indara presents a dance by the lost princess, who he explains is in the form of his only daughter, Ume-ko (Aoki). Tatsu demands Ume-ko's hand in marriage; Indara agrees on the condition that Tatsu be his son and disciple to carry on the Indara name. Shortly after their marriage, Tatsu unable to paint, explains that ever since he found happiness, he has no reason to do so. The Indaras try to encourage Tatsu to paint but to no avail. Realizing that Tatsu's longing to find his lost princess is what granted him his ability to paint, Ume-ko tells her father that by her death, Tatsu's talent may be restored. The following morning, Tatsu discovers a letter from Ume-ko, saying that she had committed suicide in hopes that it would restore Tatsu's ability. Distraught at what has happened, Tatsu attempts suicide by drowning at a nearby waterfall, but is unsuccessful. Tatsu's sorrow continues to grow as time passes until one day he sees what appears to be Ume-ko's ghost at the family garden, which motivates him to paint once more. Tatsu's latest work gives him and the Indaras international recognition, but shortly after his success, his sorrow returns. This prompts Ume-ko, who was in hiding all the while, to return to an amazed Tatsu. The film ends with Tatsu painting in the mountains with Ume-ko by his side.

Cast

as Tatsu, "Dragon painter" *

as Ume-ko * Edward Peil, Sr. as Kano Indara * Toyo Fujita as Uchida

Production

The film was produced by Hayakawa's own production company Haworth Pictures Corporation and distributed by

Robertson-Cole Distributing Corporation Film Booking Offices of America (FBO), registered as FBO Pictures Corp., was an American film studio of the silent era, a midsize producer and distributor of mostly low-budget films. The business began in 1918 as Robertson-Cole, an Anglo-Ameri ...

. After Hayakawa starred in the critically and commercially successful film '' The Cheat'', Aoki's film career was restricted to playing the love interest of Hayakawa in her future films. Aoki's off-screen image was that of a Japanese woman who had adapted herself to America middle class habits. Daisuke Miyao suggests in the biography of Hayakawa ''Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom'' that the name of Piel's character might have been a mixture of names of a Japanese painter Kano and Chinese painter Indara. A print of the film was restored at the George Eastman House. In the print the hero's name is Ten-Tsuou instead of Tatsu. The film was publicized as showing the "exotic" Japan, its culture and landscape. An advertisement in ''Motion Picture World'' carried eight images of Hayakawa in kimono.

Reception

Japanese film theorist Daisuke Miyao wrote in his book ''

The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Cinema ''Oxford Handbook of Japanese Cinema'' is a 2010 non-fiction book published by Oxford University Press and edited by Daisuke Miyao. References Books about films 2010 non-fiction books Japanese Cinema The has a history that spans mo ...

'' that "The Dragon Painter...a Hayakawa star vehicle...was a perfect example of Aoki providing authenticity to the Orientalist imagination of Japan." He further wrote "Playing the role of Ume-ko, Aoki provides a sense of authenticity to the stereotypical self-sacrificing Japanese woman like Cio-Cio-San." The film was praised for successfully reproducing an authentic Japanese atmosphere. However, the Japanese film magazine ''Kinema Jumpo'' noted that the film had not shown "either contemporary or actual Japan". ''Katsudo Kurabu'', a Japanese film trade magazine, commented, "Even though Mr. Sessue Hayakawa took subject matter from Japan, Japanese styles and names in ''The Dragon Painter'' are very inappropriate...a film about Japan that does not properly depict Japanese customs is very hard to watch for us Japanese." The ''Motion Picture World'' stated that Hayakawa had, "steadily advanced in popularity" and that several of the well known exhibitors had contracted for every collaboration between Hayakawa and Robertson-Cole. The film is regarded as the first in the series of "Hayakawa superior pictures" produced by Robertson-Cole. Margaret I. MacDonald praised the "authentic" Japanese presentation and wrote "one of the especially fine features of the production is the laboratory work, mountain locations of extreme beauty, chosen for the purpose of imitating Japanese scenery and supplying Japanese atmosphere, are enhanced by the splendid results accomplished, in the work of developing and toning." Contemporary critics have rated the film favorably. According to ''New York Times'' review of a Hayakawa retrospective: "The film is a kind of visually sophisticated fairy tale, with tinting (best is the moonlit blue of the night scenes) and neatly composed interiors and silhouettes. Set in Japan with Japanese characters, ''The Dragon Painter,'' though written by an American, seems like a relic from a parallel Hollywood: one without the cultural and sexual fetishism that often characterized its forays into the exotic."

Preservation

A 35mm print was discovered in France and was restored by the American Film Institute with the

and the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in 1988. In 2014, ''The Dragon Painter'' was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

and selected for preservation in the

. The restoration was supervised by Stephen Gong. In 1988, the restored print premiered in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles with a benshi narrator and traditional music. The restored film was packaged with '' The Wrath of the Gods'' (1914) on DVD in March 2008.

References

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

*''The Dragon Painter'' essay by Daisuke Miyao at

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dragon Painter, The 1919 films American black-and-white films 1919 romantic drama films American silent feature films United States National Film Registry films Films directed by William Worthington Films based on American novels Haworth Pictures Corporation films American romantic drama films Film Booking Offices of America films Films set in Tokyo Films shot in California Japan in non-Japanese culture 1910s American films Silent romantic drama films Silent American drama films Films with screenplays by Richard Schayer Films about fictional painters