The Dragon Painter (1919)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

William Worthington

Writers:

Richard Schayer (scenario)
Mary McNeil Fenollosa (novel)

Release Date:

28 September 1919 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Tatsu is a slightly delusional painter who lives in the wilderness. He spends his days painting nothing but the image of his love...

Plot Keywords:

Princess | Inspiration | Dragon | Suicide Note | Tokyo Japan

Cast

Sessue Hayakawa	...	Tatsu - the Dragon Painter
Tsuru Aoki	...	Ume-Ko
Edward Peil Sr.	...	Kano Indara (as Edward Peil)
Toyo Fujita	...	Undobuchida 'Uchida'

Directed by
William Worthington

Writing credits
Richard Schayer		(scenario) (as E. Richard Schayer)
Mary McNeil Fenollosa		(novel)

Original Music by
Mark Izu		(2005 release)

Cinematography by
Frank D. Williams		(cameraman)

Art Direction by
Milton Menasco

Production Management
George W. Stout	....	general manager (uncredited)

Sound Department
Scott Koué	....	sound re-recording mixer (2005 release)

Music Department
Scott Koué	....	music editor (2005 release)

Other crew
Mary Lea Bandy	....	restoration: The Museum of Modern Art (1988 restoration)
Michael Friend	....	restoration: The National Center for Film and Video Preservation at The American Film Institute (1988 restoration)
Stephen Gong	....	restoration: Pacific Film Archive (1988 restoration)
Jan-Christopher Horak	....	restoration: The International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House (1988 restoration)
Bill Sloan	....	restoration: The Museum of Modern Art (1988 restoration)

Thanks
John E. Allen	....	special thanks (1988 restoration)
Nancy Araki	....	special thanks (1988 restoration)
Allan Bobey	....	special thanks (1988 restoration)
John Kuiper	....	special thanks (1988 restoration)
Walter Lew	....	special thanks (1988 restoration)
Robert Mayer	....	special thanks (1988 restoration)
George Pratt	....	special thanks (1988 restoration)
Herbert Reynolds	....	special thanks (1988 restoration)
Elias Savada	....	special thanks (1988 restoration)
Christina Spilsbury	....	special thanks (1988 restoration)

Production Companies

• Haworth Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Robertson-Cole Distributing Corporation
• Exhibitors Mutual Distributing Company
• Milestone Film & Video (2005) (worldwide) (all media) (1988 restoration)

Other Companies

• American Film Institute (AFI)  assistance (1988 restoration)
• Asian Cine Vision  assistance (1988 restoration)
• George Eastman House  film source (1988 restoration)
• International Museum of Photography  assistance (1988 restoration) (as The International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House)
• Japanese American National Museum  funding (1988 restoration)
• Museum of Modern Art, The (MoMA)  assistance (1988 restoration)
• National Center for Film and Video, The  restoration leader (1988 restoration)
• National Endowment for the Arts, The  funding (1988 restoration)
• Pacific Film Archives  assistance (1988 restoration) (as Pacific Film Archive)

Runtime:

USA:50 min (2005 release) | France:53 min

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:TV-PG (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California, USA

Company:

Haworth Pictures Corporation

Poetic, lyrical Japanese fantasy with Sessue Hayakawa as a mad painter...

This is a lyrical, visually arresting Japanese fairy-tale about a mad artist who is under the impression that the princess of his dreams lurks in an enchanted lake which has turned her into a dragon. SESSUE HAYAKAWA is the intense young man who becomes the protégé of a painter who is looking for new talent. When the man threatens to walk away, the painter reveals that he has a daughter whom he passes off as the princess the painter is looking for.

The trick works and before you know it, the two young people fall in love. But the art of painting eludes him once he has found his lost princess and therein lies the crux of the plot. How will he get it back unless she gives up her life so that her loss will be his gain?

It's an intriguing premise and it's artfully crafted from the very opening scene with outdoor backgrounds photographed in Yosemite to give an authentic feel to the settings. The print shown on TCM is in fairly good condition considering the age and the tinted effects for moonlight give it a haunting spell.

SESSUE HAYAKAWA makes a convincing mad genius and TSURU AOKI is fine as the princess of his dreams, in real life, his wife.

Summing up: For silent film fans, well worth watching with an appropriate background score and acting that is more natural than the usual silent screen technique you might expect. The photography throughout is on the artistic side.