Yes, this is a beautiful and beautifully shot film, worth celebrating both for its two-strip Technicolor process and the presence of Anna May Wong, but let's not overlook poor old Kenneth Harlan as cad Allen Carver. Carver is the white man who marries poor little Lotus Flower (Wong), gets her pregnant, and then dumps her as soon as two of his 'friends' convince him a white man can't be married to an Asian woman. Carver rolls over with ridiculous ease and flees to America, where he commits bigamy by wedding saintly Barbara (Beatrice Bentley). The two return to China, where Lotus Flower and baby Allen Junior (Priscilla Moran, still alive as I write this and perhaps the repository of some good Hollywood stories) have been waiting for pops to return. Tragedy ensues, but not before Harlan conveys the impression that Carver is the most abject, miserable, no good heel ever to walk the Earth. The man has a million ways to look morose and consumed by guilt, but he just can't bring himself to do the right thing. It's not a subtle performance, but it is a memorable one!
Review of The Toll of the Sea
