The Toll of the Sea

This film has a bit of fame as one of the first films using the process of two tone color. I saw it at MOMA when they were showing a retrospective of the history of color in moving pictures. It was shown without any music and for a silent film this is usually death, but the film was utterly engrossing and terribly moving. I still think of it ten years after I've seen it and would LOVE to get my hands on a copy. Anna May Wong is poignant and fragile in the lead role in this adaptation of the Madame Butterfly story.

This beautifully told story was written by Frances Marion, the highest paid and most famous woman screenwriter of the early film days. It is beautifully photographed in color, one of the first. The story loosely follows Madame Butterfly and is tender and touching.

This 1922 film is apparently the first feature length film ever made in color, which alone makes it worth watching. It stars the beautiful, incomparable Anna May Wong, who was 17 at the time. She already shows remarkable maturity as an actress. The story unfolds when Lotus Flower discovers a Caucasian man floating in the sea and enlists help to save him. They fall in love and get married. Does the love last? This film is very dramatic, and it lasts under one hour. The story is told simply, with interesting twists in the tale. The film was thought lost for years until it was found, with the ending needing to be re shot. See it for the historical, pioneering aspect of it. But, most important, see it for the great performance of Anna May Wong. This movie cements the brilliant and varied versatility that she had as an actress.

We do not know with certainty why this lovely and touching adaptation of Madame Butterfly became what is generally regarded as America's first feature length color film. Technicolor's founder, Herbert Kalmus, was involved in the production of The Toll Of The Sea (TTOTS). But how it happened that this particular movie with a well known storyline and mostly unremarkable settings became the vehicle for achieving its landmark status is now difficult to determine. Perhaps it came about because of Anna May Wong's exotic costumes or remarkably expressive face. She was one of the outstanding beauties of her time, and was only 17 when she worked on TTOTS. In any event, we should be eternally grateful that Wong's stunning appearance at the beginning of her career has been preserved for later audiences to appreciate.

TTOTS is also important in documenting the remarkable maturity of Wong's acting ability while she was still only a teenager. She clearly overshadows the other principals in the film by demonstrating how to create an authentic character notwithstanding the highly melodramatic nature of the plot, and its familiar resemblance to the well known Puccini opera. We are left with only sadness in realizing what Wong might have done with roles that were even better suited to her talents but she was denied because of prevailing racism. It is well known that she sought out the female leading part in The Good Earth (that ultimately went to Caucasian Luise Rainer)--and also the subordinate one of Paul Muni's concubine (eventually played by Caucasian Tillie Losch)--only to be rejected as being "too Chinese." A similar fate befell her attempt to win the part of Mrs. Hammond in The Letter--given at director William Wyler's request to Caucasian Gale Sondergaard.

That Anna May Wong was prohibited by blatant racism from developing into the actor she could have been, notwithstanding her extraordinary glamour and ability as demonstrated in TTOTS, is one of the most tragic episodes in Hollywood history.

This silent pic has a young American washed ashore in Asia and rescued by beautiful local Anna May Wong. One thing leads to another, but eventually he goes home to the USA, leaving his Chinese wife behind with a baby on the way. Obviously inspired by Mme Butterfly but set in China, rather than Japan, it has no singing but that's OK.

Victoria saw this 10 yrs ago at MOMA, with no music. In 12/01 it has played Turner Classic Movies as part of the "Treasures from American Film Archives" package, from a nicely-restored Tech print and with a musical score added. (I hope she didn't miss it!) The very end of the pic is lost, but there is a resourceful solution which actually works effectively. Little-known picture is definitely worth your time, and not just for the novelty of seeing a silent in 2-strip Technicolor.

Wong is terrific in the lead and the film is very well made by director Franklin -- not exactly a household name at my household, but a competent helmer with a nicely understated touch. The pictures aren't quite Maurice Tourneur but the performances could be. Cast is small, with just 3 principals plus a child and a couple of character women, and all do fine work here. TOLL is also newly available in a DVD set paralleling the "Treasures" special feature on TCM, and there are many other gems, large and small, in the package, but this particular picture really is a treat.