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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 574

Shadows

192270 minUnited States
Drama

Synopsis

A Chinese stranger survives a shipwreck and makes a modest living washing clothes from a boat in a New England harbour. Treated as an outsider, he observes relationships the townspeople believe are private. A blackmail scheme threatening the minister and a widow gives him an opportunity to help the community that has struggled to accept him.

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Video edition
Wikimedia Commons
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: not identified.
This copy runs
90:50
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: not identified. No subtitle track in this language.

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

Wikimedia Commons · Tom Forman; YouTube · Public domain

Cast

DirectorsTom Forman

Historical context

Lon Chaney portrays Yen Sin through a form of racial impersonation common in silent Hollywood. The film argues for compassion toward an excluded immigrant while retaining stereotypes in the way that character is represented.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film referenceDuke Center for the Study of the Public Domain — US term reference

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

The public-domain references concern the original films in the United States. Rights can differ for other countries, editions, restorations, music or translations. Sources are listed on each film page.

Availability checked on September 13, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

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