The Dragon Painter (1919): South West Silents

Sessue Hayakawa (a Japanese-American actor probably most well-remembered by modern viewers as Colonel Saito in Bridge Over the River Kwai (1957)) was in his effervescent youth a major star of the silent cinema, and one of the most well-paid actors in early Hollywood.

Hayakawa plays Tatsu, a painter-turned-hermit living in the wilds of Japan who falls in love with Ume-ko (Tsuru Aoki). Yet, with his painting hailed as genius prior to marriage, he suddenly finds himself unable to paint once he’s found love.

Long considered lost, The Dragon Painter survives today as a tribute to Hayakawa’s talents and a shining example of Asian-American cinema, complete with a new score by Japanese-American composer Mark Izu.

This is a 4K digital restoration by San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Eye Filmmuseum, and George Eastman Museum; courtesy Milestone Films and Kino Lorber.