The scenario was based on the 1911 novel, The Red Lantern: Being the Story of the Goddess of the Red Lantern Light, by Edith Wherry. Principal photography began in Sep 1918, with producer and star Alla Nazimova, billed only as Nazimova, leading twenty-five cast and crew members on a location shoot at a lighthouse on the Massachusetts coast, as reported in the 14 Sep 1918 Wid’s Daily. Among the group were Henry Kolker, Robert E. Stevens, Charles Bryant, Eugene Morin, Henry Harmon, Nancy Palmer, and Tom Blake. Participants were required to “give very certain proof of their loyalty” before joining the expedition, as the location was to be kept secret. A news item in the 19 Oct 1918 Motion Picture News stated that the recently completed California Theatre had already committed to opening the film in in Los Angeles, CA.
       Also joining the production were actress Mai Wells (13 Apr 1919 Camera); Jack Abbe as the “Dowager Empress” (14 May 1919 LAT); Nazimova’s screen double, Maree Beaudet (9 Aug 1919 Camera); James B. Leong, who appeared in four separate roles (13 Sep 1919 Camera); and technical director James Wang (4 Oct 1919Camera). Various sources have credited the following cameramen with filming the night parade scenes: John Arnold, Robert B. Kurrle, William E. Fildew, Arthur Martinelli, Micky Maguire, Henry Bergquist (possibly R. J. Bergquist), and Charles Fuhr. Some sources have also stated that actress Anna May Wong appeared in an uncredited role.
       The 2 Nov 1918 Moving Picture World reported that director Albert Capellani planned to resume production in Los Angeles, CA. Weeks later, the 21 Dec 1918 issue revealed that Capellani had taken up residence in the city’s Chinatown district to become acquainted with the customs of the community’s immigrant population. That same day, Motion Picture News noted that filming had begun on 9 Dec 1918 at Metro Studios in Hollywood, CA. The article also revealed that Capellani and screenwriter June Mathis had continued working on the scenario during their train ride from New York to California. The Mar 1919 Motion Picture commented that the production featured “a Russian star, a French director, an American scenario writer, an Italian camera man and a Chinese story,” suggesting that Metro Studios resembled the fabled “Tower of Babel.”
       According to the 25 Jan 1919 Motion Picture News, the newly-constructed studio was completed in time for Nazimova’s arrival, and was equipped with a 300 kilowatt generator supplied by Westinghouse Electric Corporation. C. P. Butler was credited as engineer in charge of production, and Walter Grams as electrician.
       Sets for the picture included an Asian street scene with a marketplace (23 Nov 1918 Motion Picture News); a handmade, twenty-two-foot-tall statue of a goddess, modeled after a “rare Chinese antique” obtained by Capellani (25 Jan 1919 Moving Picture World); and an eight-room mission school (4 Jan 1919 Motion Picture News). Art director Henri Menessier reportedly designed the sets based on research gathered from libraries in New York City and Los Angeles. The Mar 1919 Motion Picture Classic later estimated the cost of the street scene at $18,000. An article in the 22 Mar 1919 Moving Picture World offered details of the night parade sequence, which included approximately 800 Chinese background actors, gathered from all over California. The heavily lighted scene featured Nazimova as the Goddess of the Red Lantern, carried through the streets on a litter while admirers bowed before her. The shot was enhanced through double exposure to emphasize the 500 Chinese lanterns hanging from surrounding facades. Cameraman Eugene Gaudio photographed the litter from an automobile driving alongside at the same speed.
       The close of production was announced in the 22 Feb 1919 Motion Picture News. Capellani returned to New York City on thirteen days earlier, having fulfilled his contractual obligation to Metro. However, the 19 Apr 1919 Exhibitors Herald and Motography later claimed that the director had been fired for using 100,000 feet of film to complete the seven-reel picture.
       The Red Lantern was released during the week of 4 May 1919, with concurrent openings at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City and the Ziegfeld Theatre in Chicago, IL. A Los Angeles opening followed at the California Theatre on 20 May 1919.
       Although some critics approved the picture, others, such as writer Linda A. Griffith in the Aug 1919 Film Fun, described it as “cheap, vulgar, banal trash.” She then endorsed another current release, Broken Blossoms (1919, see entry), directed by her husband, D. W. Griffith, which took a more sympathetic view of Chinese immigrants. A letter in the 20 Jul 1919 Washington Post, written by Chinese Americans S. C. Kiang, Ta Chen, and C. K. Chang, denounced the film as propaganda against their ancestral land and culture. They went on to detail the real history of the 1900 Boxer Rebellion, of which Mr. Kiang was a first-hand witness, as opposed to the picture’s highly inaccurate and xenophobic depiction.