Where Lights Are Low (1921)
Melodrama | 7 August 1921
Director:
Colin CampbellWriter:
Jack CunninghamCinematographer:
Frank D. WilliamsProduction Company:
Hayakawa Feature Play Co.According to the 13 Aug 1921 Motion Picture News, the film was the first of six starring Sessue Hayakawa, to be produced by his Hayakawa Feature Play Co. The scenario was based on the 1920 short story “East Is East” by Lloyd Osborne, the stepson of famed author Robert Louis Stevenson. An item in the Aug 1921 Picture-Play noted that the film featured a jazz band comprised entirely of Chinese musicians, an anomaly by contemporary standards.
Scenes were filmed at the 1914 Yamashiro mansion in the hills above Hollywood, CA, which was owned at the time by the Bernheimer brothers, Adolph and Eugene.
Where Lights Are Low opened 31 Jul 1921 at the Capitol Theatre in New York City. The 6 Aug 1921 Motion Picture News stated that the film was scheduled for general release the following day. Although the 17 Sep 1921 Exhibitors Trade Review reported that the picture was “well received” by theater owners, a review in the 9 Jul 1921 Motion Picture News found it lacking in humor, and co-star Gloria Payton unconvincing as a Chinese woman. The film was also reviewed under the title When Lights Are Low.
The film is extant and commercially available. ...
According to the 13 Aug 1921 Motion Picture News, the film was the first of six starring Sessue Hayakawa, to be produced by his Hayakawa Feature Play Co. The scenario was based on the 1920 short story “East Is East” by Lloyd Osborne, the stepson of famed author Robert Louis Stevenson. An item in the Aug 1921 Picture-Play noted that the film featured a jazz band comprised entirely of Chinese musicians, an anomaly by contemporary standards.
Scenes were filmed at the 1914 Yamashiro mansion in the hills above Hollywood, CA, which was owned at the time by the Bernheimer brothers, Adolph and Eugene.
Where Lights Are Low opened 31 Jul 1921 at the Capitol Theatre in New York City. The 6 Aug 1921 Motion Picture News stated that the film was scheduled for general release the following day. Although the 17 Sep 1921 Exhibitors Trade Review reported that the picture was “well received” by theater owners, a review in the 9 Jul 1921 Motion Picture News found it lacking in humor, and co-star Gloria Payton unconvincing as a Chinese woman. The film was also reviewed under the title When Lights Are Low.
The film is extant and commercially available.
T'Su Wong Shih, a Chinese prince, loves Quan Yin, a gardener's daughter, despite the fact that his uncle intends for him to marry him into a wealthy mandarin family. Before leaving for the U.S. to obtain an education, T’Su Wong promises Quan Yin that he will return to her. After graduating from college, T’Su Wong attends a slave auction in the Chinatown district of San Francisco, California, where he sees Quan Yin for sale. He wins the auction but is unable to raise the $5,000 sum, so the auctioneer offers him a three-year extension on the payment. T'Su Wong takes a variety of jobs, but meets with little success until he wins a lottery. When threats from a gangster induce the auctioneer to surrender Quan Yin, T'Su Wong fights for her freedom and claims her for his ...
T'Su Wong Shih, a Chinese prince, loves Quan Yin, a gardener's daughter, despite the fact that his uncle intends for him to marry him into a wealthy mandarin family. Before leaving for the U.S. to obtain an education, T’Su Wong promises Quan Yin that he will return to her. After graduating from college, T’Su Wong attends a slave auction in the Chinatown district of San Francisco, California, where he sees Quan Yin for sale. He wins the auction but is unable to raise the $5,000 sum, so the auctioneer offers him a three-year extension on the payment. T'Su Wong takes a variety of jobs, but meets with little success until he wins a lottery. When threats from a gangster induce the auctioneer to surrender Quan Yin, T'Su Wong fights for her freedom and claims her for his wife.
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