The Toll of the Sea (1922)
A young Chinese woman rescues an American man from a shipwreck and marries him, then is abandoned when he returns home and remarries, leaving her to raise their son alone until he comes back years later to claim the boy.
The Toll of the Sea was among the first films shot in the two-color Technicolor process and gave Anna May Wong, then seventeen, her first starring role — a rare lead part for an Asian American actress in an era when such roles were routinely handed to white performers in makeup.
Background
The Toll of the Sea is a 1922 silent melodrama directed by Chester M. Franklin and was among the first feature films shot in the two-color Technicolor process. It is loosely based on the Madame Butterfly story. Anna May Wong, still in her teens, received her first starring role, which was a rare lead for an Asian American actress in an era when such parts were often given to white performers in makeup. Kenneth Harlan plays the American sailor who is rescued and marries her. The story spans several years, from the shipwreck and marriage to the abandonment and the son’s eventual reclaiming. The film runs about fifty-five minutes.
What to watch for
Pay attention to the early color photography, which uses the limited palette of the two-color process to render sea scenes and interiors in strong reds and greens. Wong carries the film’s emotional arc from hopeful marriage to abandonment and her long years of raising a son alone. The film’s depiction of its Chinese characters, and of the self-sacrificing woman at its center, reflects the stereotypes of its era, and contemporary viewers may find those choices troubling. Notice the way the film uses its color and its ocean settings to mark the passing of time. The final reunion with the boy’s father closes the story on a note of loss.
