Anna May Wong
Lotus Flower
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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.
Sources and availability
The synopsis and editorial text were written for this collection. The references below were cross-checked to identify the film and its copy; each editorial section identifies its reference.
Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.
The reference concerns the original work. Restorations, colorization, translations and other territories may have different conditions. This site uses the player enabled by the channel.
Availability checked on September 10, 2026.
Photograph credit
Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.
- Anna May Wong — Paramount photo · Public domain
- Kenneth Harlan — Unknown. Image is from 1918. · Public domain
- Priscilla Moran — Evans Studio, LA · Public domain
