Name: Purple Dawn
Released: 1923
Cast: Bert Sprotte, William E. Aldrich, James B. Leong, Edward Peil Sr., Bessie Love

Cast & Crew

Film Details

Release Date

Jan 1923

Premiere Information

New York showing: ca10 May 1923

Distribution Company

Aywon Film Corp.

Country

United States

Technical Specs

Sound

Silent

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.33 : 1

Film Length

4,850ft (5 reels)

Synopsis

Bob, a young sailor, unwittingly becomes involved in drug smuggling activities in San Francisco when he is sent to deliver a package of opium to Wong Chang, a Tong leader. A rival gang waylays him, steals the drugs, and drops him off in the country. In his wandering, he gets a job in a country store and falls in love with local girl Ruth Ketchell, forgetting the Chinese girl, left behind in the city, who loves him. Wong Chang finds him and returns him to the ship's captain, who beats Bob for allegedly stealing the drugs. The Tong kidnap Ruth and threaten to kill Bob, but the Chinese girl, who happens to be Wong Chang's daughter, saves the two. The last hundred feet of the film are tinted a light purple (hence the film's title), showing the Chinese girl, aware of the futility of her love, walking off in the early morning light after having united the loving couple. It is not clear whether she commits suicide or returns to her Chinese fiancé.