Lotus Blossom (film)
| Lotus Blossom | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | James B. Leong Francis J. Grandon |
| Screenplay by | James B. Leong Charles Furthman George Yohalem |
| Starring | Lady Tsen Mei Tully Marshall Noah Beery Yutaka Abe |
| Cinematography | Ross Fisher |
Production company | Wah Ming Motion Picture Company |
| Distributed by | National Exchanges |
Release date | December 1, 1921 (USA) |
Running time | 70 minutes |
| Budget | $100,000 |
Lotus Blossom (aka Lian hua xin chu xi and Daughter of Heaven) is a 1921 film written and directed by Shanghai-born actor James B. Leong.
Plot
The inventor of the first clock — which would eliminate the use of a Chinese village's sacred bell — is sentenced to life imprisonment by the emperor, but he escapes his fate by hiding with a father and his daughter. The story was reportedly based on an ancient Chinese legend.[1]
Cast
- Lady Tsen Mei as Moy Tai
- Tully Marshall as Quong Foo
- Noah Beery as Tartar Chief
- Yutaka Abe as Quong Sung
- Goro Kino as The Emperor
- James Wang as Professor Lowe Team
- Chow Young as Tsze Sin
Background
Leong — who later became a prolific character actor in Hollywood — created the Wah Ming Motion Picture Company in 1919 aiming to craft films that would combat Hollywood's stereotypical portrayals of Chinese people as assassins and villains.[2] (Leong had been born in Shanghai but educated in Indiana, and he had been enlisted by a number of Hollywood directors to work as a translator and technical director on film sets in the late 1910s.)
Production
The film was produced in Los Angeles and was financially backed by the support of Chinese merchants.[3] The cast was largely Chinese, but Leong and co-director Francis J. Grandon did cast two white actors — Tully Marshall and Noah Beery — to play Chinese roles, as was common at that time. The film took around six months to make, and it had a budget of around $100,000.[4]
Release
When the film opened in Los Angeles in 1921, actresses Anna May Wong and Bessie Wong were on hand to greet customers at the door.[5] A Chinese symphony orchestra provided the film's score.[1]
DVD
In 2004, the film was released on DVD by Facets Multimedia Distribution and Image Entertainment.
References
- ^ a b "Chinese Cast Feature of 'Lotus Blossom'". The Los Angeles Times. 27 Nov 1921. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "News Notes from Movieland". The Ada Evening News. 7 Apr 1921. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "The Oriental Drama". The Kenosha News. 8 Apr 1921. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Young Chinese, Former Student Here, in City to Exhibit His Film Play". The Muncie Evening Press. 22 Aug 1921. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "26 Nov 1921, Page 3 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2019-11-09.