Dragon Painter (1919)

Editor's Note One of the hallmarks of Asian-American cinema, DRAGON PAINTER also stars one of silent cinema's biggest heartthrobs, Sessue Hayakawa (BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI). In this film set in rural Japan, Hayakawa plays a solitary, slightly nutty artist named Tatsu. He believes he's betrothed to a princess who was carried off by a dragon. When his brilliance with the brushes is discovered, he's made the pupil of Kano, one of Japan's foremost artists. But when Tatsu takes Kano's daughter for his fabled princess, familial chaos ensues. Cinephiles rejoiced when a rare print of this film, originally thought lost, was discovered in Paris, providing the source for this outstanding restoration.

	Sessue Hayakawa
	William Worthington - Director

Sight and Sound
"[F]ascinating....The Japanese feel is remarkably convincing thanks to co-producer Hayakawa's determination to overturn countless stereotypes." 05/01/2008 p.96