The Forbidden City main backdrop
The Forbidden City main poster

The Forbidden City

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5.7/10 • 9

1918-10-061h 3m

RomanceDrama

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.

Directors
Sidney Franklin
Writters
Mary Murillo

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Norma Talmadge

    Norma Talmadge

    San San / Toy

  2. Thomas Meighan

    Thomas Meighan

    John Worden

  3. E. Alyn Warren

    E. Alyn Warren

    Wong Li

  4. Michael Rayle

    Michael Rayle

    Mandarin

  5. L. Rogers Lytton

    L. Rogers Lytton

    Chinese Emperor

  6. Reid Hamilton

    Reid Hamilton

    Lieutenant Philip Halbert

  7. Charles Fang

    Charles Fang

    Yuan-Loo

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Jun 6, 2022

5/10

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.

Media

  • The Forbidden City poster
  • The Forbidden City poster
  • The Forbidden City poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
silent film