''The Willow Tree'' is a surviving 1920 American
silent film directed by Henry Otto and distributed by
Metro Pictures
Metro Pictures Corporation was a Film, motion picture production company founded in early 1915 in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a forerunner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The company produced its films in New York, Los Angeles, and sometimes at leas ...
. The film is based on a Broadway play, ''The Willow Tree'', by
J. H. Benrimo and Harrison Rhodes.
Fay Bainter
Fay Okell Bainter (December 7, 1893 – April 16, 1968) was an American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for ''Jezebel'' (1938) and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Early life
Bainter wa ...
starred in the Broadway play in 1917. The film stars
Viola Dana
Viola Dana (born Virginia Flugrath; June 26, 1897 – July 3, 1987) was an American film actress who was successful during the era of silent films. She appeared in over 100 films, but was unable to make the transition to sound films.
Early lif ...
and is preserved in the
George Eastman House Motion Picture Collection
The George Eastman Museum Motion Picture Collection in Rochester, New York comprises about 28,000 titles, including features, shorts, documentaries, newsreels, and experimental moving images. The collection is renowned for its holdings of silent f ...
.
Plot
As described in a
film magazine
Film periodicals combine discussion of individual films, genres and directors with in-depth considerations of the medium and the conditions of its production and reception. Their articles contrast with film reviewing in newspapers and magazines whi ...
,
O-Riu (Dana), daughter of a Japanese image-maker, rebels at his command that she marry a wealthy merchant in order to provide funds for her brother to attend an American college. Due to a coincidence, her flight is misinterpreted as a suicide, and her father sells to an Englishman living in the neighborhood his most prized image. Seeking refuge, O-Riu poses as the image and then "comes to life" apparently by magic. The Englishman falls in love with her and will not answer his country's call to arms until she has apparently disappeared. While he is away for four years, she lives at his home. When he returns after the war, they find happiness. The film has a parallel story concerning Japanese legends.
Cast
*
Viola Dana
Viola Dana (born Virginia Flugrath; June 26, 1897 – July 3, 1987) was an American film actress who was successful during the era of silent films. She appeared in over 100 films, but was unable to make the transition to sound films.
Early lif ...
as O-Riu
*
Edward Connelly
Edward Connelly (December 30, 1859 – November 21, 1928) was an American stage and film actor of the silent era.
Biography
Connelly had a Broadway theater career going back to the Victorian era. His Broadway credits include ''The Wild Du ...
as Tomotada
*
Pell Trenton
Pell Trenton (born William T. Baker; August 29, 1883 – March 3, 1924) was an actor in theater and Hollywood films during the silent film era. He was popular and had leading roles.
Background
Pell Trenton was born August 29, 1883, in New Y ...
as Ned Hamilton
*
Harry Dunkinson
Harry Dunkinson (December 16, 1876 – March 14, 1936) was an American film and stage actor. He appeared in more than 140 films between 1912 and 1935. He was born in New York City and died in California.
Dunkinson began acting on stage when ...
as Jeoffrey Fuller
*
Alice Wilson
Alice Evelyn Wilson, MBE, FRSC, FRCGS (August 26, 1881 – April 15, 1964) was Canada's first female geologist. Her scientific studies of rocks and fossils in the Ottawa region between 1913 and 1963 remain a respected source of knowledge.
Earl ...
as Mary Fuller
*
Frank Tokunaga
Frank B. Tokunaga was a Japanese actor, director, and screenwriter who worked in Japan and Hollywood.
Biography Career
Frank began his career in show business in 1912 while managing a troupe of Japanese acrobats for Barnum & Bailey, and later wor ...
as John Charles Goto
*
Togo Yamamoto
was a pioneering actor who appeared on stage and film in the United States and Japan.
Biography
Born in Yokohama, Japan, on 4 November 1886, Togo emigrated to the United States and began an acting career in the early years of the 20th century.
...
as Itomudo
*
George Kuwa
George Kuwa (born Keichii Kuwahara) was a Japanese and American Issei (Japanese immigrant) film actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1916 and 1931. He was the first actor to portray Charlie Chan on-screen in the 19 ...
as Kimura
*
Tom Ricketts
Thomas B. Ricketts (15 January 1853 – 19 January 1939) was an English-born American stage and film actor and director who was a pioneer in the film industry. He portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge in the first American film adaptation of ''A Christm ...
as Priest
References
External links
*
1920 films
Films directed by Henry Otto
American films based on plays
American silent feature films
1920 drama films
Silent American drama films
American black-and-white films
Metro Pictures films
Surviving American silent films
1920s American films
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