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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 503

The Red Lantern

191970 minUnited States
Drama
Video edition
YouTube
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: English.
This copy runs
82:03
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

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Synopsis

A woman of mixed Chinese and European ancestry seeks belonging at a Christian mission in Beijing. Romantic rejection and the arrival of her European half-sister deepen her sense of exclusion. A rebel leader exploits that resentment by persuading her to assume a symbolic role in an uprising, linking personal humiliation to a violent political conflict.

Cast

DirectorsAlbert Capellani

Historical context

Alla Nazimova plays both half-sisters in a melodrama shaped by the period's racial assumptions and Western view of China. The production also marked Anna May Wong's screen debut as an extra, before her later emergence as a major performer.

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.

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Availability checked on September 10, 2026.

Photograph credit

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

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