The War of the Tongs

This film, according to news items, was written by a Chinese writer, and its principal actors were members of the Imperial Chinese players. Although Moving Picture World stated that the film was directed "by an American," they praised the film for giving "an insight into Oriental life impossible to obtain when the actors are Americans." At some length, Moving Picture World applauded the film's depiction of Chinese-American life: "For the first time in the history of screen productions, the customs of the Chinese in their homes, stores and secret societies are shown by native performers. The inner workings of the tongs and the Chinese gambling houses are vividly and faithfully depicted. Every phase of Chinese home life, including the strange marriage rites, is depicted.... The celebrated Chinese lottery, which is shrouded in much mystery, is exposed, as are the methods of the tongs. A secret meeting of a warring tong, with all the strange rites of the members, has been photographed, and every ceremony performed in the lodge rooms is declared to be exactly reproduced as it occurs in actual life. Chinese are noted for their honesty in business transactions and this phase of their lives is carefully brought out in the development of the story, as some of the action takes place in a large Chinese mercantile house, where their business methods are also carefully depicted. The strange system of accounting used by Chinese merchants, which is baffling to a member of another race but most simple to themselves, is only one of the many bits of atmosphere used in this unusual film production."