The Toll of the Sea
(1922)
Romance, Melodrama | 26 November 1922
Director:
Chester M. FranklinWriter:
Frances MarionProduction Company:
Technicolor Motion Picture CorporationThe Toll of the Sea was the first feature film shot in the two-strip Technicolor process.
Title cards introduce the story: "There is a legend of far-away China which tells of the beauty and the treachery of the siren Sea--whose favors are a mortgage upon the soul—who gives gifts of joy and love, but demands double payment in disappointment and loneliness. So when the Sea laid a strange gift at the feet of the little Chinese girl, Lotus Flower, she was afraid—and yet intrigued."
This picture marked seventeen-year-old Anna May Wong's breakthrough film. According to various sources, it was based on Puccini's opera, Madame Butterfly, which had already inspired Mary Pickford's Madame Butterfly (1915) and Norma Talmadge's The Forbidden City (1918).
According to the 29 July 1941 DV, The Toll of the Sea was cinematographer Ray Rennahan's first Technicolor film. It was shot in July 1922. Rennahan was not credited in the film, but various sources, including his obituary in the 22 May 1980 DV, mentioned his work on the film. Editor Hal C. Kern was also not credited in the film, but according to his obituary in the 26 February 1985 DV, Kern "cut the first two-color Technicolor feature, The Toll of the Sea."
The 29 March 1923 Var reported that The Toll of the Sea was "highly praised," but when brought into a Philadelphia, PA, theater to replace an unpopular film, it did not "hold up" for more than a couple of days.
Toll of the Sea is extant ...
The Toll of the Sea was the first feature film shot in the two-strip Technicolor process.
Title cards introduce the story: "There is a legend of far-away China which tells of the beauty and the treachery of the siren Sea--whose favors are a mortgage upon the soul—who gives gifts of joy and love, but demands double payment in disappointment and loneliness. So when the Sea laid a strange gift at the feet of the little Chinese girl, Lotus Flower, she was afraid—and yet intrigued."
This picture marked seventeen-year-old Anna May Wong's breakthrough film. According to various sources, it was based on Puccini's opera, Madame Butterfly, which had already inspired Mary Pickford's Madame Butterfly (1915) and Norma Talmadge's The Forbidden City (1918).
According to the 29 July 1941 DV, The Toll of the Sea was cinematographer Ray Rennahan's first Technicolor film. It was shot in July 1922. Rennahan was not credited in the film, but various sources, including his obituary in the 22 May 1980 DV, mentioned his work on the film. Editor Hal C. Kern was also not credited in the film, but according to his obituary in the 26 February 1985 DV, Kern "cut the first two-color Technicolor feature, The Toll of the Sea."
The 29 March 1923 Var reported that The Toll of the Sea was "highly praised," but when brought into a Philadelphia, PA, theater to replace an unpopular film, it did not "hold up" for more than a couple of days.
Toll of the Sea is extant and widely available. There is also an alternate version for which three missing minutes were reshot on the Pacific Coast of Southern California with an old 2-strip Technicolor camera, illustrated by titles from Frances Marion's original scenario.
In China, Lotus Flower hears "the cry of wind and wave" and helps fishermen rescue a young American, Allen Carver, washed up on a rocky seashore, despite an old Chinese man's warning that the sea takes in pain and sorrow twice the amount of joy it gives. Lotus Flower and Allen fall in love and he promises to marry her. However, a family emergency requires him to return to the United States, and friends convince him to leave without her. A son is born to Lotus Flower, and she maintains a ruse that Allen will come back to her. When Allen returns to China years later, he is accompanied by his American wife, Barbara. Overcome with grief, Lotus Flower persuades the Carvers to take little Allen, then gives herself up to the ...
In China, Lotus Flower hears "the cry of wind and wave" and helps fishermen rescue a young American, Allen Carver, washed up on a rocky seashore, despite an old Chinese man's warning that the sea takes in pain and sorrow twice the amount of joy it gives. Lotus Flower and Allen fall in love and he promises to marry her. However, a family emergency requires him to return to the United States, and friends convince him to leave without her. A son is born to Lotus Flower, and she maintains a ruse that Allen will come back to her. When Allen returns to China years later, he is accompanied by his American wife, Barbara. Overcome with grief, Lotus Flower persuades the Carvers to take little Allen, then gives herself up to the sea.
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