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San Francisco Silent Film Festival

San Francisco Silent Film Festival

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about silent film as an art form and as a culturally valuable historical record.

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  • A Day of Silents 2022

The Toll of the Sea

Live music by the Sascha Jacobsen Ensemble
Director
Chester M. Franklin
Cast
Anna May Wong, Kenneth Harlan, Beatrice Bentley, Baby Moran

The earliest surviving feature displaying the two-color Technicolor process, The Toll of the Sea was restored from a rare camera negative. The story by screenwriter Frances Marion bears more than a little resemblance to Madame Butterfly and like Butterfly, its orientalism is problematic. But the melodrama is redeemed by the exquisite early color process and by Anna May Wong’s dazzling turn as the self-sacrificing Lotus Flower, her first starring role. The New York Times said, “She has a difficult role, a role that is botched nine times out of ten, but hers is the tenth performance.”

Restoration by UCLA Film & Television Archive

Free admittance for children under 12

  • 54 min
  • United States
  • 1922
  • 35mm
Introduction
Anna Wong (Anna May Wong’s niece)
Copresenters
Center for Asian American Media, Roxie Theater, SFFILM

Live Music by the Sascha Jacobsen Ensemble

Bassist Sascha Jacobsen draws on a variety of musical styles from classical to jazz and Argentine Tango. He has performed with Kronos Quartet, theatrical greats Rita Moreno, Mandy Patinkin and Patti LuPone, musicians Bonnie Raitt, Randy Newman, and Raul Jaurena, among many others. Jacobsen is in demand as a performer, composer, and arranger, with commissions by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Berkeley Youth Symphony, and SF Arts Council among others. He is also a dedicated teacher and has coached students at numerous arts and music schools in the Bay Area. Jacobsen is the founder of the Musical Art Quintet, which performs his original compositions, and plays bass in the group. The Sascha Jacobsen Ensemble consists of Jacobsen on bass, Ken Cook (piano), Michele Walther (violin), and Sheldon Brown (flute/clarinet).

Image credit: Pamela Gentile

Details

Director
Chester M. Franklin
Country
United States
Year
1922
Cast
Anna May Wong, Kenneth Harlan, Beatrice Bentley, Baby Moran
Runtime
54 min
Print Source
UCLA Film & Television Archive
Format
35mm
Sat, Dec 3, 2022
9:00 PM
$18 general
$16 member
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