Anna May Wong’s first starring role was based on a character from Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly. A young Chinese woman, Lotus Flower (Wong), finds a white American man floating in the sea, saves him, and they fall in love. He promises to take her home with him, but he betrays her and leaves, only to return with his white wife to take the son Lotus bore him. Written by one of the most renowned and prolific scriptwriters of the era, Frances Marion (the first writer to win two Oscars), this was the first feature film made in Hollywood to use the two-strip Technicolor process. 

Live musical accompaniment by Michael Mortilla.

Director: Chester M. Franklin. Cast: Anna May Wong, Kenneth Harlan, Beatrice Bentley, Baby Moran. 1922. 54 minutes. USA. Color. Silent. 35mm. Restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive

All film screenings of Beyond the Icon: Anna May Wong are available here.