Hello, genplant.

I am not familiar with this film (not a surprise, as I am not the Silent film buff you are, though I have nothing against the genre and do own a few in my home collection). It does sound interesting, though; personally, I am more interested in the historical context in which these types of films are made than I am in the actual stories-- though a good story certainly helps!

A couple of questions:

How did you watch this film? Is it available on disc (perhaps part of a collection)? If so, I may consider purchasing it, giving it a watch, and discussing it with you in the future (probably a ways off, as my film schedule and other life events are booking me up). I might also watch it if it's on youtube; otherwise, since I don't do streaming services, then I probably won't see it.

Also, is the run time here on TMDB accurate? Are there only about 35 minutes of film surviving from this title? (This would not prevent me from watching it).

Thanks for any info you can provide, genplant, and thank you for bringing this film to everyone's attention.

Hi, north! Thanks for your response.

I noticed this listed as scheduled to air on TCM during the early a.m. hours of this past Friday, during a several-hours showcase, that had started 8p.m. Thursday night, of films of the 1910s that were directed by women. Unfortunately I had downgraded my Comcast to the Limited Basic level (which doesn't include TCM) last Wednesday, so missed getting to see this on my all-time favourite channel. But I checked on YouTube last night, and fortunately they have a nice copy of it. That copy can be played at max 360p viewing quality, that's rather fuzzy for viewing such an old movie. Still, it looks entirely fine there, and the excellent recent-years-added dedicated music score beautifully compliments the film. Here's the link to the YT video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV1ygZV9axU&t=198s Indeed, the surviving elements of the film have a run time of approximately 35 mins.

The complete film in its original form is believed to have run somewhere in the 70-80 mins. ballpark. The surviving elements thus represent half or somewhat less of the original total. It's not surprising, therefore, that it's difficult to clearly understand everything about the story and what the character motivations are regarding various things. What survives is the footage of two particular reels, plus ten minutes of footage from wherever else in the film, but with the substantial rest of the movie missing.

Still, what survives is definitely very watchable, quite interesting, I think generally appealing, and is another valuable glimpse back into time (a full century ago), and regarding life in a non-western culture in early 20th century America. I found the 35 minutes to pass briskly and entirely agreeably (was never bored or uninterested, despite not understanding why certain things were happening). I think you'd like it, as we both like watching things for more than solely the story or the acting, etc.

In this movie's case, it's not only quite well shot, but the direction is for the most part successful. Rather impressive considering that all involved are said to have had no prior movie-making or acting experience; this was a first (and in most cases last) experience for all concerned. As you'll see, if deciding to watch the movie on YT, the production actually isn't (for its time) amateurish seeming; it comes off as those involved knowing entirely satisfactorily what they're doing.

You may want (if deciding to watch the movie) to take a look at director/producer/writer Marion E. Wong's TMDb overview page as it presents interesting text regarding this movie. Another good article I've found is the following: http://moviessilently.com/2016/04/03/the-curse-of-quon-gwon-1916-a-silent-film-review/

Since 2006, this film has been included on the National Film Registry, so will, for posterity, remain preserved and safeguarded in excellent company.

Thanks for the link, genplant, I went ahead and watched it on YouTube.

From a technical standpoint, I agree it's a well-shot film . . . except of course around the 27-minute mark, where we unfortunately have some significant film damage; but, for a film that is more than 100 years old and was forgotten for most of that time, the remaining stock has held up well and the people who restored what remains of the film should be commended.

As for the storyline? (Shrugs shoulders) With most of the reels missing and no intertitles, your guess is as good as mine, genplant; your interpretation makes sense to me. I actually thought the reason for the woman taking the baby away from the mother might have to do with the young couple having the baby out of wedlock . . . across cultures, the mothers in these situations-- then as now --tend to be treated much more harshly than the fathers . . . but you mentioned the two had gotten married at the very beginning of the film, before the child was born.

But see, to me, the marriage appeared to take place later in the film, when the father was wearing the traditional Chinese headdress (in another, much more recent film, I saw a Chinese man wearing a similar headdress during his wedding).

After which all three in the family-- father, mother, and infant daughter --are all reunited and we get our happy ending. But perhaps I misunderstood something and the marriage DID take place at the film's beginning, as you said, genplant, in which case your explanation makes as much sense as any.

What would really help is if we could get someone of Chinese heritage, with a thorough understanding of the culture, to provide their view of this film; perhaps one day someone with such a background will stumble on this thread and help us out?

Again, genplant29, thank you for bringing this long-forgotten film out of the shadows, for others here on TMDB to learn about and admire. Who knew there were women directing films so early in cinema (this film, with a "release" date of January 1917-- although apparently only actually shown in a theater or two --would've actually been shot in 1916). I certainly didn't. And from an ethnic minority-- Chinese-American --heavily-discriminated against at the time. It's a shame that Marion Wong's film didn't get a proper release, and that so much of it was lost.

Thank you again, genplant29, for sharing your discovery here on TMDB.

Thanks for your excellent comments, north. I totally meant, and expected, to respond in a timely fashion the other week, however had wanted to first fully re-watch the film. Unfortunately, I re-watched the first 14 mins., then needed to stop, intended to finish within a day or two - but never got around to it.

It's amazing all the interesting very old films that survive (in full or part) out there, but that pretty much no one (self included) has ever heard of because of them being so rarely seen or today mentioned. Fortunately TCM airs some obscure 1910s Silents now and then, that otherwise probably hardly anyone today would be aware of.

In my re-watching of this film's first surviving 14 minutes the other week, I was able to notice/realize certain things that hadn't at all occurred to me during the prior viewing, as during the initial viewing I really hadn't realized how much of the original work is today missing, and that the surviving elements are from two different sources. For example the very creaky, wobbly, dilapidated, hazy opening-title page is as at some point poorly filmed of the film whereas the beautiful-condition majority of other surviving footage is as reproduced from a semi-pristine source. Thus, during my initial viewing I believed that the first scenes we see, following the opening-title shot, are truly the movie's first scenes.

Now, however, I realize they're from somewhere further along into the movie. A chunk of establishing scenes and relationships explanation is missing in between, that, without, today the reconstituted film's story is difficult to properly understand certain things about.

Anywhere in the surviving elements of this film, when the picture quality becomes noticeably poor, no doubt that's elements that were culled from the same film-of-the-film as the creaky opening-title shot came from. Realizing that, it somewhat helps make more evident where certain continuity gaps/jumps occur.

As for this film's 1/1/1917 premiere date that's indicated on the details Overview page, Jan. 1st isn't actually the true month and day. On TMDb, whenever we know a year, but are unable to determine the month and day, we're supposed to put January 1st. So, anytime on TMDb you see Jan. 1 indicated as a release or birth date, be aware that most likely only the indicated year is accurate.

Meanwhile, I strongly suspect that this film's premiere took place probably circa 17 July 1917, as that's when the 1917 article, referred to much further above, stated that this film "deals with the curse of a Chinese god that follows his people because of the influence of western civilation." Since this film never had general release/distribution, I'm guessing that the mentioned article is from contemporary to the premiere.

I very much like and appreciate that The Curse of Quon Gwon features characters of a specific culture, and a corresponding story, we don't normally see about in films of this age. As a result, it's truly a gem of a time capsule regarding depiction of life/relationships/perceptions within traditional Chinese culture during a past era - a full century ago - of very changing, modernizing times.