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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 248

The Toll of the Sea

192253 minUnited States
Drama
Video edition
YouTube
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: English.
This copy runs
53:09
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

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Synopsis

A young Chinese woman helps rescue an American from the sea and falls in love with him. He promises to take her home, despite warnings from women who have seen similar promises broken. Their relationship is tested by the distance between romantic assurances and social expectation.

Cast

DirectorsChester M. Franklin

Behind the scenes

The early Technicolor process required unusually strong light, so the production relied on outdoor photography. Anna May Wong's central performance is inseparable from a melodramatic framework shaped by contemporary ideas about interracial relationships.

Reference: WikipediaReference: Cornell Cinema

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.

WikipediaInternet Archive

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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