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Where Lights Are Low

  • 19211921
  • 1h
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
39
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • IMDbPro
Where Lights Are Low (1921)
  • Drama
The Chinese prince T'Su Wong Shih loves Quan Yin, the daughter of a gardener, but his uncle wants him to marry a girl of his own class. Leaving to study in the United States, the young man p... Read allThe Chinese prince T'Su Wong Shih loves Quan Yin, the daughter of a gardener, but his uncle wants him to marry a girl of his own class. Leaving to study in the United States, the young man promises his beloved that they two will be together soon. Having finished university, one d... Read allThe Chinese prince T'Su Wong Shih loves Quan Yin, the daughter of a gardener, but his uncle wants him to marry a girl of his own class. Leaving to study in the United States, the young man promises his beloved that they two will be together soon. Having finished university, one day T'Su Wong Shih visits the market of San Francisco, and at an auction of slaves, he find... Read all
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
39
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Colin Campbell
  • Writer
    • Jack Cunningham
  • Stars
    • Sessue Hayakawa
    • Tôgô Yamamoto
    • Goro Kino
Top credits
  • Director
    • Colin Campbell
  • Writer
    • Jack Cunningham
  • Stars
    • Sessue Hayakawa
    • Tôgô Yamamoto
    • Goro Kino
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 1User review
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos

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    Top cast

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    Sessue Hayakawa
    Sessue Hayakawa
    • T''Su Wong Shihas T''Su Wong Shih
    Tôgô Yamamoto
    • Chang Bong Loas Chang Bong Lo
    Goro Kino
    • Tuang Fangas Tuang Fang
    Gloria Payton
    • Quan Yinas Quan Yin
    Kiyosho Satow
    • Lang See Bowas Lang See Bow
    Misao Seki
    • Chung Wo Ho Keeas Chung Wo Ho Kee
    Toyo Fujita
    • Wungas Wung
    Jay Eaton
    Jay Eaton
    • 'Spud' Maloneas 'Spud' Malone
    Harold Holland
    Harold Holland
    • Sergeant McConigleas Sergeant McConigle
    Colin Campbell
    Colin Campbell
    Louise Emmons
    Louise Emmons
    • Mysterious Womanas Mysterious Woman
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Colin Campbell
    • Writer
      • Jack Cunningham
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

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    User reviews1

    Review
    Top review
    4/10
    White Slavery Exploitation in Another Racial Guise
    I saw this as the feature for the third day of the 39th Pordenone Silent Film Festival, and while I'm happy to see any of star Sessue Hayakawa's silent films, this one is terribly melodramatic, and it's basically a white slavery film, an early exploitation genre, in the mold of "Traffic in Souls" (1913), but with supposedly-Chinese characters and set in San Francisco's Chinatown. The Chinese slave of this one is even evidently played by a white, American actress, Gloria Payton, in addition to Hayakawa and, reportedly, much of the rest of the cast being Japanese. There's so much cultural appropriation going on here that it's hard to keep track; moreover, a major theme of the picture concerns the culture clash between supposed Chinese values, which mostly consists here of arranged marriage and smuggling slaves, while Hayakawa's character's adoption of supposed Western mores is exemplified by gambling, as well as marrying for love, I guess.

    The low point may be when Hayakawa's character purchases his enslaved love interest on a 3-year layaway agreement. The surviving print of this one, while appreciably restored, is also choppy, either from missing footage today or poor editing in the first place. The protagonist's father declares that he'll do everything he can to prevent his son from completing his purchase, but we never see the father again in the film. Another character is stabbed, I gather, but instead of showing that (which apparently was thought too scandalous for a racist film about human trafficking), the film cuts to the next scene where the weapon employed is delivered to Hayakawa. Granted, the prior scene includes a shadow cast on a door to announce a figure's entry, though. And, while the climax is basically a Griffith-esque race-against-time set-up to prevent the rape of the damsel-in-distress, with the added misfortune of some white saviors thrown in, the fight sequence is amusingly staged in its excess. At about an hour and eight minutes, it's a mercifully short feature, too. All in all, this Hollywood treatment of the Chinese was a stark contrast to Pordenone's prior night's feature, the Chinese propaganda piece on their own "National Customs" (Guo Feng) (1935).

    (Note: 2017 restoration from the National Film Archive, Tokyo, of 35mm nitrate positive. Unfortunately, Pordenone's streaming of it included a distracting watermark in the lower right corner for the Archive.)
    helpful•1
    0
    • Cineanalyst
    • Oct 6, 2020

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 4, 1921 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • None
    • Also known as
      • Gde sveće tmurno gore
    • Production company
      • Hayakawa Feature Play Company
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Silent
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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