''The Toll of the Sea'' is a 1922 American silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Chester M. Franklin, produced by the Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation, released by

Metro Pictures Metro Pictures Corporation was a motion picture production company founded in early 1915 in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a forerunner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The company produced its films in New York, Los Angeles, and sometimes at leased f ...

, and featuring

Anna May Wong Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese-American movie star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese-American actress to gain intern ...

in her first leading role. The film was written by

Frances Marion Frances Marion (born Marion Benson Owens, November 18, 1888 – May 12, 1973) was an American screenwriter, director, journalist and author often cited as one of the most renowned female screenwriters of the 20th century alongside June Mathis a ...

and directed by Chester M. Franklin (brother of director Sidney Franklin), with the lead roles played by Wong and Kenneth Harlan. The plot was a variation of the '' Madama Butterfly'' story, set in China instead of Japan. The film was the second Technicolor feature (after 1917's ''

The Gulf Between ''The Gulf Between'' is a 1917 American comedy-drama film that was the first motion picture made in Technicolor, the fourth feature-length color film, and the first feature-length color film produced in the United States. The film was destroyed ...

''), the first color feature made in Hollywood, and the first Technicolor color feature anywhere that did not require a special projector to be used for screenings. The film premiered on November 26, 1922, at the Rialto Theatre in New York City, and went into general release on January 22, 1923.

Plot

When young Chinese woman Lotus Flower sees an unconscious man floating in the water at the seashore, she quickly gets help for him. The man is Allen Carver, an American. Soon the two have fallen in love, and they get married "Chinese fashion". Carver promises to take her with him when he returns home. Lotus Flower's friends warn her that he will leave without her, and one states she has been forgotten by four American husbands, but she does not believe them. However, Carver's friends discourage him from fulfilling his promise, and he returns to the United States alone. Lotus Flower has a young son, whom she names Allen after his father. When the older Allen finally returns to China, Lotus Flower is at first overjoyed. She dresses in her elaborate Chinese bridal gown to greet him. However, he is accompanied by his American wife, Elsie. Allen has told Elsie about Lotus Flower, and it is Elsie who persuaded her husband to tell Lotus Flower the real situation. When the boy is brought to see his father, Lotus Flower pretends he is the child of her American neighbors. Later, though, she confides the truth to Elsie and asks her to take the boy to America. She tells the child that Elsie is his real mother. After Elsie takes the boy away with her, Lotus Flower says, "Oh, Sea, now that life has been emptied I come to pay my great debt to you." The sun is then shown setting over the water, and it is implied that Lotus Flower drowns herself.

Cast

as Lotus Flower *

Kenneth Harlan Kenneth Daniel Harlan (July 26, 1895 – March 6, 1967) was an American actor of the silent film era, playing mostly romantic leads or adventurer types. Early life Harlan was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of George W. Harlan and ac ...

as Allen Carver *Beatrice Bentley as Barbara 'Elsie' Carver *

Priscilla Moran Priscilla Moran (November 23, 1917 – November 11, 2006) was an American silent film actress. She was born in Sedalia, Missouri. She made her film debut in 1922, and retired from the silver screen in 1937 at the age of 20, having appeared in fo ...

as Little Allen (as Baby Moran) *

Etta Lee Etta Lee (September 12, 1906 – October 27, 1956) was an American silent film actress, known for supporting roles. Early life Lee was born on September 12, 1906, in Kauai, Hawaii. Her father was a Chinese medical doctor and her mother was of ...

as Gossip *Ming Young as Gossip

Production

Because the

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 ...

camera divided the lens image into two beams to expose two film frames simultaneously through color filters, and at twice the normal frames per second, much higher lighting levels were required. All scenes of ''The Toll of the Sea'' were shot under "natural light" and outdoors, with the one "interior" scene shot in sunlight under a

muslin Muslin () is a cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights from delicate sheers to coarse sheeting. It gets its name from the city of Mosul, Iraq, where it was first manufactured. Muslin of uncommonly delicate hands ...

sheet.

Preservation status

Once believed to have been lost, the film was restored by the

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the ar ...

, under the supervision of Robert Gitt and Peter Comandini, from the

35mm 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

nitrate film Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

original camera negative The original camera negative (OCN) is the film in a traditional film-based movie camera which captures the original image. This is the film from which all other copies will be made. It is known as raw stock prior to exposure. The size of a roll v ...

in 1985. As the final two reels were missing, Gitt and Comandini used "an original two-color Technicolor camera" to shoot a sunset on a California beach, "much as the film's original closing must have looked."

Availability

The restored version is available as one of the titles included in the 4-DVD box-set '' Treasures from American Film Archives, 50 Preserved Films''.

Google Doodle

On January 22, 2020, a

Google Doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...

celebrated

, commemorating the 97th anniversary of the day ''The Toll of the Sea'' went into general release.

References

External links

*
''The Toll of the Sea'' at Silent Era
* * *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toll Of The Sea, The 1920s American films 1920s color films 1920s English-language films 1920s rediscovered films 1922 films 1922 romantic drama films American romantic drama films American silent feature films Articles containing video clips Early color films Films about interracial romance Films directed by Chester Franklin Films scored by Louis Silvers Films set in Republic of China (1912–1949) Films with screenplays by Frances Marion Metro Pictures films Rediscovered American films Silent American drama films Silent films in color Silent romantic drama films