Sessue Hayakawa and Margaret Loomis in The Hidden Pearls (1918)

Sessue Hayakawa

Margaret Loomis

Florence Vidor

Beulah Marie Dix

Having been reared and educated in America, the son of an American pearl trader and a Hawaiian island princess knows nothing about life on his mother&apos;s island. He and Enid Benton are engaged, and when word comes that he has lost h...

George Melford

The Hidden Pearls

Melodrama

Sessue Hayakawa shot to stardom in Demille&apos;s THE CHEAT and his employers didn&apos;t know quite what to do with him. A Japanese actor, he couldn&apos;t be a romantic hero in the United States, so they made him into a melodramatic hero of a non-white race -- here he plays a half-Polynesian -- who suffered for his love -- usually of a White American woman -- and redeemed himself from the implied sin of miscegenation by suffering or dying. This went on for a couple of years until he was able to produce his own independent features.

In the midst of all of this, of course, one is struck mostly by the silly, often idiot-plotted stories and by Hayakawa&apos;s relatively subtle and believable acting.

This one pretty much follows that course. The print I saw at New York&apos;s Museum of Modern Art today was incomplete and the remaining bits had a lot of bubbling from outgassing, but except for Hayakawa, it&apos;s not worth it. Even director George Melford can&apos;t do much with this one.

Sessue Hayakawa shot to stardom in Demille's THE CHEAT and his employers didn't know quite what to do with him. A Japanese actor, he couldn't be a romantic hero in the United States, so they made him into a melodramatic hero of a non-white race -- here he plays a half-Polynesian -- who suffered for his love -- usually of a White American woman -- and redeemed himself from the implied sin of miscegenation by suffering or dying. This went on for a couple of years until he was able to produce his own independent features.

In the midst of all of this, of course, one is struck mostly by the silly, often idiot-plotted stories and by Hayakawa's relatively subtle and believable acting.

This one pretty much follows that course. The print I saw at New York's Museum of Modern Art today was incomplete and the remaining bits had a lot of bubbling from outgassing, but except for Hayakawa, it's not worth it. Even director George Melford can't do much with this one.

Having been reared and educated in America, the son of an American pearl trader and a Hawaiian island princess knows nothing about life on his mother's island. He and Enid Benton are engaged, and when word comes that he has lost his family fortune, she informs him that she will not marry a poor man. In Honolulu, Tom's uncle, John Garvin, tells him that there is a rich store of pearls hidden on his mother's island, and the young man, now the island's rightful king, sails there immediately, where he is warmly greeted by the natives. The beautiful Tahona falls in love with Tom and shows him where the pearls are hidden. He escapes from the angry islanders with the pearls, but after his return to Honolulu, Enid's cold manner and his own conscience effect a change in him, and he soon catches a steamer back to the island. He and Tahona wed and rule the islanders as king and queen.

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