The Forbidden City 1918
The Forbidden City
The daughter of a Chinese mandarin is sentenced to death for her secret marriage to an American. Their child, raised in the mandarin's palace, grows up and escapes to seek her father, now a high-ranking official in the Philippines.
The daughter of a Chinese mandarin is sentenced to death for her secret marriage to an American. Their child, raised in the mandarin's palace, grows up and escapes to seek her father, now a high-ranking official in the Philippines.
Videos & Photos
All 0 Videos & 4 Photoscast
Full Cast & Crew... San San / Toy
... John Worden
... Wong Li
... Mandarin
LRL
L. Rogers Lytton... Chinese Emperor
... Lieutenant Philip Halbert
User reviews
See All 1 Reviews06 Jun 2022 by CinemaSerf
The characterisations here are a bit of a stretch, to be honest. Norma Talmadge is "San San" who is to be a concubine of the Emperor (of China) but who becomes embroiled, and falls in love, with the American Ambassador to the court - "Worden" (Thomas Meighan) with whom she has a child. Needless to say, the Emperor is not best pleased and "San San" is dealt with and the baby "Toy" put out for adoption by a family who disdainfully refer to her as the "American". Talmadge plays both roles, the former a little more plausibly than the latter as the daughter seeks out her father, now a high ranking official in the American-governed Philippines. The story is simple, and probably quite typical of the times when any form of inter-racial relationship was somewhat hypocritically frowned upon. Meighan plays well, he ages well, and his character is decent but the rest of this is heavily staged, badly lit and is a meanderingly paced effort that could have launched the career of ten Max Factor's. The sumptuous court settings of dynastic China have to be presumed as the settings and costumes suggest a very basic budget - even for 1918. It isn't terrible, indeed it is quite ambitious, but for me it felt flat and rather sterile.
Directors:
Producers:
Release Date:
Oct 06, 1918 (United States)
Run Time:
1hr 3`
MMPA Rating:
Original Language:
English
Production Countries:
United States
Status:
Released
Plot Keywords:
Related Movies To
The Forbidden City
The characterisations here are a bit of a stretch, to be honest. Norma Talmadge is "San San" who is to be a concubine of the Emperor (of China) but who becomes embroiled, and falls in love, with the American Ambassador to the court - "Worden" (Thomas Meighan) with whom she has a child. Needless to say, the Emperor is not best pleased and "San San" is dealt with and the baby "Toy" put out for adoption by a family who disdainfully refer to her as the "American". Talmadge plays both roles, the former a little more plausibly than the latter as the daughter seeks out her father, now a high ranking official in the American-governed Philippines. The story is simple, and probably quite typical of the times when any form of inter-racial relationship was somewhat hypocritically frowned upon. Meighan plays well, he ages well, and his character is decent but the rest of this is heavily staged, badly lit and is a meanderingly paced effort that could have launched the career of ten Max Factor's. The sumptuous court settings of dynastic China have to be presumed as the settings and costumes suggest a very basic budget - even for 1918. It isn't terrible, indeed it is quite ambitious, but for me it felt flat and rather sterile.
Cast & Crew of
The Forbidden City
Directors & Credit Writers
... Director
Cast
... San San / Toy
... John Worden
... Wong Li
... Mandarin
LRL
L. Rogers Lytton... Chinese Emperor
... Lieutenant Philip Halbert
CF
Charles Fang... Yuan-Loo
Produced By
... Producer