The Red Lantern

As described in a film magazine,{{cite journal |last1=Sargent |first1=Epes Wintrop |last2=Hill |first2=Walter K. |title=The Red Lantern Stars Nazimova |journal=Moving Picture World |volume=40 |issue=6 |pages=920–21 |publisher=Chalmers Publishing Company |location=New York City |date=May 10, 1919 |url=https://archive.org/details/moving40chal |access-date=2014-09-05}} Mahlee (Nazimova) is a half-Chinese and half white woman, which makes her an outcast. After her grandmother dies, she goes to a Christian mission in Peking where she is converted and becomes a missionary. There she falls in love with Andrew Templeton (Foss), the son of the mission leader Reverend Alex Templeton (Hall), but the son's admiration is tempered by her mixed race. Dr. Sam Wang lives at the mission as well but is secretly a Boxer leader. Dr. Wang loves Mahlee but she spurns his advances.

File:The Red Lantern (1919).webm

One day Blanche Sackville (Nazimova) visits the mission, and Mahlee realizes that she is the daughter of the Englishman her grandmother told her about and is her half-sister. Although Mahlee initially feels an attachment to Blanche, she soon becomes jealous when she realizes that Sir Philip Sackville (Currier) favors a suite between Blanche and Andrew Templeton. Capitalizing on the disdain in Mahlee's heart, Sam Wang convinces her to join him and impersonate the Goddess of the Red Lantern, a mystic personage that presides over the Chinese New Year, to convince the superstitious revolutionaries that victory is near if they follow Wang. While she serves the Boxer cause, she still cannot bear to have those she loves hurt, so she goes to the mission to warn them of an attack. She meets Philip Sackville and pleads for him to acknowledge her as his daughter and take her away from China, but Sackville refuses. She returns to Wang and celebrates the Feast of the Lanterns. Although the Boxers are suspicious of her, Wang saves her. Armed conflict between the Boxers and Allies results in the rout of the Chinese. Mahlee goes to the Boxer Palace and while on her throne, she drinks the poison Wang gives her. Philip Sackville, Blanche, and Andrew come to the palace and discover Mahlee dead.

File:Nazimova in The Red Lantern.jpg

• Alla Nazimova as Mahlee & Blanche Sackville
• Noah Beery as Dr. Sam Wang
• Charles Bryant
• Edward Connelly as General Jung-Lu
• Frank Currier as Sir Philip Sackville
• Reginald Denny
• Darrell Foss as Andrew Templeton
• Dagmar Godowsky
• Winter Hall as Reverend Alex Templeton
• Henry Kolker
• Harry Mann as Chung
• Virginia Ross as Luang-Ma
• Mary Van Ness as Mrs. Templeton
• Anna May Wong as Lantern Bearer (uncredited)

File:Red Lantern ad.jpg

The Red Lantern, filmed during the 1918 flu pandemic, was the debut of Anna May Wong, who played a lantern bearer.{{cite book |last=Chan |first=Anthony B. |title=Perpetually Cool: The Many Lives of Anna May Wong (1905-1961) |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2003 |location=Lanham, Maryland |pages=30–33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CUJI-hFSGNIC |isbn=0-8108-4789-2}} To meet the casting requirements which required 300 extras for the film, the Chinese American extras were paid $7.50 per day ($101.32 in 2015 dollars), which was $1.50 more than the other extras.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:107448|title=Red Lantern|access-date=2008-05-25|last=Garza|first=Janiss|publisher=Allmovie}}

{{commons category}}

• {{IMDb title|0010616}}
• [http://www.allanazimova.com/photos/1916-1925/1919-alla-nazimova-in-the-red-lantern-lobby-card/ Lantern slide for film], Alla Nazimova Society
• [http://www.allanazimova.com/photos/1916-1925/1919-nazimova-in-red-lantern-production-meeting-with-director-albert-capellani-and-author-edith-wherry/ Nazimova In Production Meeting with Director Albert Capellani and Author Edith Wherry], Alla Nazimova Society
• [https://archive.org/details/redlantern00whergoog The Red Lantern] by Edith Wherry, with illustrations from the film (Google Books)

{{Albert Capellani}}

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Category:1919 films

Category:American silent feature films

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:Films directed by Albert Capellani

Category:Silent American drama films

Category:1919 drama films

Category:Films set in Beijing

Category:1910s American films

Category:1910s English-language films