Overall, you get two Tod Browning silent films and two films that feature both Priscilla Dean and Wallace Beery. Considering how hard it is to find silent Tow Browning, let alone Priscilla Dean films, this two-movie set of “Drifting” and “White Tiger” is worth having in the collection of silent film fans.
© 2020 Kino Lorber Inc. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Drifting and White Tiger
DATE OF FILM RELEASE: Drifting (1923), White Tiger (1923)
DURATION: Drifting (84 Minutes), White Tiger (77 Minutes)
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1:33:1 aspect ratio, 1080p, Black and White/English Intertitles
COMPANY: Kino Classics
RATED: Not Rated
RELEASE DATE: October 20, 2020
Drifting (1923)
Directed by Tod Browning
Play by Daisy H. Andrews/John Colton
Titles by Gardner Bradford
Written by Tod Browning
Cinematography by William Fildew
Edited by Errol Taggart
White Tiger (1923)
Directed by Tod Browning
Story by Tod Browning
Scenario by Tod Browning
Titles by Charles Kenyon
Cinematography by William Fildrew
Edited by Errol Taggart
Art Direction by Elmer Sheeley
Starring:
Drifting (1923)
Priscilla Dean as Cassie Cook/Lucille Preston
Matt Moore as Capt. Arthur Jarvis
Wallace Beery as Jules Repin
J. Farrell MacDonald as Murphy
Rose Dione as Madame Polly Voo
Edna Tichenor as Molly Norton
William V. Mong as Dr. Li
Anna May Wong as Rose Li
White Tiger (1923)
Priscila Dean as Sylvia Donovan
Matt Moore as Dick Longworth
Raymond Griffith as Roy Donovan
Wallace Beery as Count Donelli/Hawkes
Alfred Allen as Mike Donovan
After the runaway success of Outside the Law, director Tod Browning reteamed with star Priscilla Dean on Drifting, another hard-boiled crime picture flavored with Orientalism. Set in a remote Chinese village, and staged on an epic scale, Dean stars as Cassie Cook, an opium trafficker caught between an undercover government agent (Matt Moore) and a fellow smuggler (Wallace Beery). Dean may have been the star, but it is Anna May Wong (age eighteen and on the brink of stardom), who steals the show during the film’s fiery climax.
An early attempt by Browning to infuse the crime melodrama with elements of the uncanny (spurring the evolution of the American horror film), White Tiger involves a band of jewel thieves who employ a chess-playing automaton to gain entry into the homes of the wealthy. But their elaborate plans are haunted by omens, and they seem doomed to an inescapable fate. This disc also contains the only surviving footage of Browning and Dean’s 1919 The Exquisite Thief, one of the key films in establishing Dean’s persona as the glamorous jewel thief.
For silent film fans, filmmaker, actor, screenwriter and vaudeville performer Tod Browning will be known for his films “Dracula” (1931) and “Freaks” (1932).
Browning was one of the few filmmakers that were able to have a career after silent films and through the decade of talkies, albeit only through the 30s.
But its his silent film work that the filmmaker has a plethora of work from 1915 through 1929 and will be known for his collaborations with two stars, Lon Chaney and Priscilla Dean.
And with his collaborations with actress Priscilla Dean, one of the most popular silent film stars but an actress who was unfortunately able to transition to talkies, so most of her work is from 1912 through 1928. And not many films between Tod Browning and Priscilla Dean are available, in fact, many films are considered lost.
But fortunately, Kino Classics has two silent films directed by Tod Browning and starring Priscila Dean that will be released in a two film set “Drifting” and “White Tiger”, both from 1923.
“Drifting” stars Priscilla Dean and three talents who would have amazing careers, Matt Moore, Wallace Beery and Anna May Wong.
Set in China, Priscilla Dean plays the role of Cassie Cook, a woman who is involved in selling opium and teams up with her rival, Jules Repin (portrayed by Wallace Beery) but having a hard time taking that all in and wants to quit and leave China with her friend Moly Morton, who is addicted to opium.
For Cassie, she has used her credit to purchase new gowns, hoping Repin comes through with a big shipment of opium, because payment for those dresses are coming up. But with Repin unable to deliver, she bets on horse racing in hopes she and Molly can escape.
But that doesn’t pan out, so Cassie then tries to trace the shipment that Repin is expecting, so, she goes to the town of Hang Chow, a troubled area in which the villagers and the government are having problems.
While there, she comes across a Caucasian man, wondering if he’s a government inspector seeking out dope dealers or what? So, Cassie poses as a novelist and learns the man is trying to fight the drug dealers.
In “White Tiger”, Sylvia (Priscila Dean) and Roy Donovan (Raymond Griffith) were separated as youngsters as their father is betrayed by a fellow thief. Years later, they are brought together by a thief named Count Donneli (portrayed by Wallace Beery) and form a team of thieves but are unaware they are brother and sister and not aware that Count Donneli is the man responsible for betraying their father.
And now the three are planning to rob a wealthy home using a chess playing machine.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
Both films are presented in 1080p High Definition. Only “Drifting” received a 4K restoration and look magnificent for its age, while “White Tiger” does show its age.
The presentation of these three films on this Blu-ray is no doubt the definitive version of these films to watch. Blacks are nice and deep, whites and grays show magnificent contrast. These three films look incredible in HD!
The musical score for “Drifting” is by Philip Carli and the musical score for “White Tiger” is by Andrew Earle Simpson.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Drifting and White Tiger” comes with an audio commentary for “Drifting” by film historian Anthony Slide and a fragment of the “last” Tod Browning/Priscila Dean film “The Exquisite Thief”.
I hope Kino Lorber continues to consider having Mr. Slide provide more audio commentaries for silent film. He knows what to talk about, knows how to make it entertaining to listen to but also taking today’s modern take of yesterday’s filmmaking into context.
First, let me just preface, “Drifting” is a film that is set in China and because this is a silent film and at a time when Caucasians dressed like Chinese, if you are sensitive about that, then “Drifting” is not for you.
The film does star what is possible the first Asian American female star Anna May Wong (the first Asian star in the US was Sessue Hayakawa), who would later become a fashion icon and would have a wonderful career. With that being said, I found “Drifting” to be a film that is carried on the shoulders by actress Priscilla Dean.
As Cassie Cook, Cassie is a bad girl, who likes expensive things and now she is playing with fire, spending money she doesn’t have in hopes that her rival and business partner will bring opium for dope deals.
As a viewer, this is one of the few films that are still surviving that showcases drug addiction. In the US, the first Congressional Act in 1890 levied taxes on morphine and opium and by 1909, the importation, possession and use of “smoking opium” were banned, but opium-based medications were not.
It wasn’t until the Harrison Act of 1914 when importing, manufacturing, distributing opium or cocaine became illegal.
But prior to that, it was already known to be big money for the early drug dealers. Back the late 1800’s, the first American multimillionaire businessman, Jon Jacob Astor, made his fortune by smuggling opium to China (and fur trading) which fueled the 19th century opioid crisis knowing that people were becoming addicted to it and were willing to pay for it. And that money went back into purchasing tea, pottery and fabrics that would be introduced and resold in the US and England, which he did between 1816-1825.
While China banned opium, there were people who wanted to cash in on it and with this film “Drifting”, I found it to be interesting as we see Cassie Cook as a drug dealer. We see her friend addicted and bedridden because of her addiction.
But we see Cassie going back and forth because she is a person who is addicted to money but guilty of doing bad things to fuel that. But when it comes to desperate times and wanting to get her friend out of China and get helped, she needs to make money to do that and that is by going back to her drug dealing ways but to find where the shipment of opium is located.
But once she gets there, she ends up in a town full of turmoil and a man who is there to stop the drug dealers, while she pretends to be a novelist.
In a way, I found Cassie’s character to be quite annoying, as she was like a Jekyll/Hyde character, while Anna May Wong was probably the actress that I found myself interested in the most. For one, there was no doubt that she was typecast for many films as the exotic girl, and in the case of her character Rose Li, she was shown to be a gold digger, a damsel in distress and given one of the more headscratching death scenes.
I will say that I did find it interesting to see the battle between the villagers and the govt. soldiers and that was well-presented in this film. But overall storyline, because too much of the film sits on the shoulders of Cassie, her character was a bit annoying for me to enjoy this film thoroughly.
If anything, I found “White Tiger” to be the more fascinating film and the person who shined in this film was Wallace Beery. In silent cinema, Beery tend to play a lot of villains but would get his chance as a leading man in the early ’30s with “Min and Bill” and his most memorable film “The Champ” (1931).
But this was an interesting film as we are introduced to two siblings separated as children due to their father’s distrustful thief friend. Fastforward and the three are all reunited, the kids not knowing they are brother and sister and both not knowing that thief who betrayed their father is their partner in a heist.
But once they head to a mountain cabin, each don’t trust each other and it’s fascinating silent film that I found to be much more entertaining than “Drifting”.
But overall, you get two Tod Browning silent films and two films that feature both Priscilla Dean and Wallace Beery. Considering how hard it is to find silent Tow Browning, let alone Priscilla Dean films, this two-movie set of “Drifting” and “White Tiger” is worth having in the collection of silent film fans.