'Son of the Gods', starring Richard Barthelmess, is a good example of how an actor's current performance is inflected by his (or her) previous performances. With the possible exception of "Tol'able David", Barthelmess's best (and best-known) role was his performance as the gentle Chinese immigrant in 'Broken Blossoms'. Barthelmess played that role with all the usual gimmicks employed by a white actor depicting an Oriental: sellotaped eyelids, cringing posture, the lot. Despite some racist and unpleasant 'Chinky' dialogue, Barthelmess brought genuine dignity and realism to his performance as a Chinese in 'Broken Blossoms'. Memories of his performance in that role must have helped considerably for the audience who watched Barthelmess in 'Son of the Gods' during its original release.
SPOILERS COMING. Barthelmess here plays Sam Lee, the son of a wealthy Chinese merchant. In this role Barthelmess's eyelids are normal, which the audience might interpret as simply the director's decision to avoid a ridiculous make-up job. At any rate, Barthelmess doesn't in any way *look* Chinese. There's an awkward scene in which Sam and his father begin to converse in Chinese but then lapse into English, clearly for our benefit.
Sam embarks on a world tour, in which he meets wealthy socialite Allana Wagner, played by Constance Bennett. She's supposed to be very beautiful, but I'm still waiting. Allana is attracted to Sam, not realising that he's Chinese. (He certainly doesn't look it, and his accent isn't Asian.) They fall in love. Eventually, though, she learns the truth. This provokes an extremely unpleasant scene in which Allana strikes Sam in the face with a riding crop, while calling him a yellow dog, a cur, a liar, a cheat. Meanwhile, other people stand about watching her do this, without interceding.
Later, Allana falls ill (maybe from Chinese flu?). While she's on her sickbed, her father (Anders Randolf) tells Sam that Allana is calling for him in her delirium. Wagner prevails on Sam to visit his daughter. Sam does this, and she recovers, but Wagner shows no gratitude. His attitude seems to be that Sam is just a filthy Chinese, so no gratitude is necessary.
SPOILER NOW. And here's where it gets really offensive. It turns out that Sam isn't Chinese after all. A retired lawman informs Sam that he's a white foundling, adopted in infancy. He never knew he's actually white! But now that Sam is safely Caucasian, Allana is perfectly willing to marry him. Even more strangely, Sam is eager to marry Allana after all. Is he a masochist?
There is a nasty tradition of films and plays in which a white woman is attracted to a dark-skinned man but is simultaneously repelled because he is the 'wrong' colour ... only to learn that in fact he's a white man after all, whose complexion is down to many years of being tanned by the sun. Examples of this offensive scenario include 'The Sheik' (Arab turns out to be white foundling) and 'Whoopee!' (Amerindian turns out to be white foundling). 'Son of the Gods' is one more example of this dark genre. What makes it vaguely plausible is the fact that Barthelmess is best known for playing a (genuine) Chinese in a previous film, so we accept him as Chinese in 'Son of the Gods'.
In this film's favour, there is a moving scene in which - after learning the truth about his ancestry - Sam decides that he considers himself Chinese after all, as he was raised by Chinese within the Chinese culture after his 'own' people abandoned him. Also, this film contains some very beautiful exterior scenes and some elaborate interiors. There's also a Technicolor sequence filmed in San Francisco's Chinatown ... regrettably, this sequence was seriously deteriorated in the print which I viewed.
Constance Bennett (who never appealed to me) is neither physically attractive nor sympathetic in a role that's apparently meant to be both. Her role in this film is a racial bigot, yet we're not expected to perceive her that way. Apparently, we're meant to find it perfectly reasonable that she would be attracted to this white man, then repelled by him when she discovers he's not white, then attracted to him again when she learns he's white after all.
If I were going to rate this film on its political correctness quotient, it might barely merit a rating of 2 out of 10. Setting aside the fact that this movie's story is extremely racist and extremely implausible both at the same go, there are substantial merits in its photography, art direction, Frank Lloyd's supervision, and in the performances of Barthelmess and several supporting actors (but not Bennett). Trying to judge this film by the standards of its time, I'll rate 'Son of the Gods' 7 points out of 10.
SPOILERS COMING. Barthelmess here plays Sam Lee, the son of a wealthy Chinese merchant. In this role Barthelmess's eyelids are normal, which the audience might interpret as simply the director's decision to avoid a ridiculous make-up job. At any rate, Barthelmess doesn't in any way *look* Chinese. There's an awkward scene in which Sam and his father begin to converse in Chinese but then lapse into English, clearly for our benefit.
Sam embarks on a world tour, in which he meets wealthy socialite Allana Wagner, played by Constance Bennett. She's supposed to be very beautiful, but I'm still waiting. Allana is attracted to Sam, not realising that he's Chinese. (He certainly doesn't look it, and his accent isn't Asian.) They fall in love. Eventually, though, she learns the truth. This provokes an extremely unpleasant scene in which Allana strikes Sam in the face with a riding crop, while calling him a yellow dog, a cur, a liar, a cheat. Meanwhile, other people stand about watching her do this, without interceding.
Later, Allana falls ill (maybe from Chinese flu?). While she's on her sickbed, her father (Anders Randolf) tells Sam that Allana is calling for him in her delirium. Wagner prevails on Sam to visit his daughter. Sam does this, and she recovers, but Wagner shows no gratitude. His attitude seems to be that Sam is just a filthy Chinese, so no gratitude is necessary.
SPOILER NOW. And here's where it gets really offensive. It turns out that Sam isn't Chinese after all. A retired lawman informs Sam that he's a white foundling, adopted in infancy. He never knew he's actually white! But now that Sam is safely Caucasian, Allana is perfectly willing to marry him. Even more strangely, Sam is eager to marry Allana after all. Is he a masochist?
There is a nasty tradition of films and plays in which a white woman is attracted to a dark-skinned man but is simultaneously repelled because he is the 'wrong' colour ... only to learn that in fact he's a white man after all, whose complexion is down to many years of being tanned by the sun. Examples of this offensive scenario include 'The Sheik' (Arab turns out to be white foundling) and 'Whoopee!' (Amerindian turns out to be white foundling). 'Son of the Gods' is one more example of this dark genre. What makes it vaguely plausible is the fact that Barthelmess is best known for playing a (genuine) Chinese in a previous film, so we accept him as Chinese in 'Son of the Gods'.
In this film's favour, there is a moving scene in which - after learning the truth about his ancestry - Sam decides that he considers himself Chinese after all, as he was raised by Chinese within the Chinese culture after his 'own' people abandoned him. Also, this film contains some very beautiful exterior scenes and some elaborate interiors. There's also a Technicolor sequence filmed in San Francisco's Chinatown ... regrettably, this sequence was seriously deteriorated in the print which I viewed.
Constance Bennett (who never appealed to me) is neither physically attractive nor sympathetic in a role that's apparently meant to be both. Her role in this film is a racial bigot, yet we're not expected to perceive her that way. Apparently, we're meant to find it perfectly reasonable that she would be attracted to this white man, then repelled by him when she discovers he's not white, then attracted to him again when she learns he's white after all.
If I were going to rate this film on its political correctness quotient, it might barely merit a rating of 2 out of 10. Setting aside the fact that this movie's story is extremely racist and extremely implausible both at the same go, there are substantial merits in its photography, art direction, Frank Lloyd's supervision, and in the performances of Barthelmess and several supporting actors (but not Bennett). Trying to judge this film by the standards of its time, I'll rate 'Son of the Gods' 7 points out of 10.