Milestone's restored DVD release of Sessue Hayakawa's 'The Dragon Painter' from 1919 coming

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The Milestone Cinematheque Presents ‘The Dragon Painter’
Restored by the George Eastman House Motion Picture Department
New digital master featuring original tinting
New ensemble score by composer Mark Izu
Deluxe bonus features include full-length feature film:
Thomas Ince’s THE WRATH OF THE GODS, starring Sessue Hayakawa

THE DRAGON PAINTER
CAT #: MILE00108
ISBN #: 978-1-933920-07-8
UPC #: 784148010847
SRP: $29.95
STREET: March 18, 2008

SYNOPSIS:
Sessue Hayakawa was one of the great stars of the silent cinema. In many films he played a dashing, romantic lead - a rarity for Asian actors in Hollywood, even today. Hayakawa became so popular and powerful that he was able to start Haworth Pictures to control his own destiny. The Dragon Painter was the finest of the Haworth productions. Beautifully acted, gorgeously shot (with Yosemite Valley filling in for the Japanese landscape), and lovingly directed, the film is an absolute marvel.

Hayakawa plays Tatsu, an artist living as a hermit in the wilds of Japan. Thought mad by the local villagers, he believes that his princess fiancée has been captured by a dragon. His obsession leads to artistic inspiration. It isn’t until a surveyor comes across Tatsu in the mountains that his genius is discovered. The surveyor informs the famed artist Kano Indara about his discovery. Kano is desperate to find a male heir to teach his art, but when Tatsu meets Kano’s daughter (played by Hayakawa’s wife, Tsuru Aoki) and sees only his lost princess, a clash of wills brings the household to the brink of disaster.

Long considered lost, The Dragon Painter was rediscovered in a French distribution print and brought to the George Eastman House for restoration with the original tints. The film survives today as a tribute to Hayakawa’s great artistry and a shining example of Asian-American cinema.

Bonus Features:
The full-length feature, Thomas Ince’s The Wrath of the Gods (1914), starring Sessue Hayakawa, Tsuru Aoki and Frank Borzage. Restored tinted print courtesy of George Eastman House.
A copy of the script for The Wrath of the Gods, courtesy of George Eastman House.
How to Build Your Own Volcano by Jack Theakston!
1921 short subject, Screen Snapshots (1921) with Sessue Hayakawa, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and Charles Murray (courtesy of Larcas Productions).
The Dragon Painter press kit
The original novel by Mary McNeil Fenollosa in PDF format
Four Stills Galleries!

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