''Manchu Love'' is a 1929 American

pre-code Hollywood Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

short silent historical fiction film short in two-color

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

. The film features a cast entirely of people of Asian descent and stars Sojin as Su Shun and

Etta Lee Etta Lee (September 12, 1906 – October 27, 1956) was an American silent film actress, known for supporting roles. Early life Lee was born on September 12, 1906, in Kauai, Hawaii. Her father was a Chinese medical doctor and her mother was of ...

as Empress Tzu Hsi. It was the ninth film produced as part of

's "Great Events" series.

Production

The film was shot at the Tec-Art Studio in Hollywood. Director

Elmer Clifton Elmer Clifton (March 14, 1890 – October 15, 1949) was an American writer, director and actor from the early silent days. A collaborator of D.W. Griffith, he appeared in ''The Birth of a Nation'' (1915) and ''Intolerance'' (1916) before giving ...

was paid $1000.00 for his work on this film and ''

Light of India ''Light of India'' is a 1929 MGM short silent film short in two-color Technicolor. It was the tenth film produced as part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "Great Events" series. Production The film was shot at the Tec-Art Studio in Hollywood. Director ...

'', a later entry in the series. The art direction and color supervision by

Natalie Kalmus Natalie M. Kalmus (née Dunfee, also documented as Dunphy; April 7, 1878November 15, 1965) was the executive head of the Technicolor art department and credited as the director or "color consultant" of all Technicolor films produced from 1934 to 19 ...

drew significant praise despite the project having one of the lowest budgets in the "Great Events" series.

Preservation status

This film has survived in its entirety. A complete print was preserved by the Cinema Arts Laboratory in 1993 and is held in the archives at the

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

. It was screened as recently as 2015 at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

's Roy and Niuta Titus Theater for a presentation by authors James Layton and David Pierce.The Dawn of Technicolor: The Silent Era
''Museum of Modern Art''. Accessed April 12, 2020.

References

External links

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1929 films American silent short films Cultural depictions of Empress Dowager Cixi Films directed by Elmer Clifton Films set in 19th-century Qing dynasty Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer short films Silent films in color 1920s American films {{1920s-US-film-stub