In "The Jerk" (79), Steve Martin plays a boy adopted by a black family who doesn't realize he's white.
In "Son of the Gods," Richard Barthelmess plays the son of a Chinese couple. No one (but the audience) notices he's obviously white. There's no attempt to make him look Oriental, as in his "Broken Blossoms" or many other films ("Hatchet Man," "Good Earth" etc.) where whites are made up to look Asian. So you have to be capable of suspension of disbelief to get into this movie.
What carries the film is Barthelmess' low-key brilliance and its treatment of issues. I think he was the best male movie star (though not best actor) of the Pre-Code era. And the film confronts anti-Chinese prejudice of the time, long forgotten until its revival in recent years.
It is sui generis. I can't think of another film of the time that deals with this issue.
In "Son of the Gods," Richard Barthelmess plays the son of a Chinese couple. No one (but the audience) notices he's obviously white. There's no attempt to make him look Oriental, as in his "Broken Blossoms" or many other films ("Hatchet Man," "Good Earth" etc.) where whites are made up to look Asian. So you have to be capable of suspension of disbelief to get into this movie.
What carries the film is Barthelmess' low-key brilliance and its treatment of issues. I think he was the best male movie star (though not best actor) of the Pre-Code era. And the film confronts anti-Chinese prejudice of the time, long forgotten until its revival in recent years.
It is sui generis. I can't think of another film of the time that deals with this issue.