Tsuru Aoki
Actor · 1892 – 1961 · Tokyo, Empire of Japan [now Tokyo, Japan]
From Wikipedia Tsuru Aoki (September 9, 1892 – October 18, 1961) was a popular Japanese stage and screen actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the 1910s through the 1920s. Aoki may have been the first Asian actress to garner top-billing in American motion pictures.
Movies24
Movie10.0
Movie7.0DramaUpon returning home from school one day, Lotus Blossom, a Japanese orphan who lives on the island of Hilo in Hawaii and teaches at a native school, discovers Parker, nearly dead from hunger. Believing his story of a shipwreck, Lotus nurses him back to health and then, mistaking loneliness for love, agrees to marry her patient. Soon tiring of her, Parker deserts her and assumes a new identity.
Locked Lips
1920 · 1 votes
MovieDramaA Japanese maiden is pursued by an unscrupulous American young man who falsely believes her to have great riches.
Alien Souls
1916
Movie8.0DramaToyama wants to go to college in America but his alcoholic father won't supply the funds. He gets the money to go, however, from Sada, whom he has married in secret. But Sada has a secret of her own -- she told Toyama that she got the money from a relative, but the truth is that she has signed up to do a four-year stint as a Geisha girl.
A Heart in Pawn
1919 · 1 votes
Movie7.0DramaA picture depicting the engrossing adventures of a small town youth in Hollywood and showing the intimate home life of some of the screen's greatest stars.
Night Life in Hollywood
1922 · 2 votes
Movie6.8WesternDramaSioux leader Chief Gray Otter sends his son Tiah to the white man's school so that he can become a great leader. The son returns home drunk, disappointing his father. Things get worse when the son joins a group of renegades and robs a payroll wagon. The father, observing the clash from a distance, takes a side.
The Last of the Line
1914 · 9 votes
Movie6.2DramaYukio is illegal in the United States and is used by a gang of spies for their plans. Yukio must steal secret documents from an admiral. When he's submitting the documents to the gang, he realizes what he has done and claims the documents back. A struggle follows.
His Birthright
1918 · 5 votes
Movie9.0DramaTai Leung, a young man who dreams of love and carves ivory images, falls in love with the pretty Kao Ai. Her cruel foster father owns a restaurant where she works, and he overworks and mistreats her. She blossoms when she meets Tai Leung, who is determined to rescue her from her hard life. Her foster father agrees to let her go, but only if Tai pays him a large sum of money. Desperate for money, Tai learns of a condemned pirate, "The Wolf," who has been sentenced to hang and will pay a lot of money for a substitute, and Tai agrees to take The Wolf's place on the gallows to ensure Ko Ai's happiness. However, things don't work out quite the way Tai planned.
Five Days to Live
1922 · 1 votes
Movie10.0DramaWhen his fiancée commits suicide after being used by an American artist, a Japanese art dealer seeks to get vengeance by seducing the artist's wife.
The Soul of Kura San
1916 · 1 votes
MovieDramaAmerican sailor Allan Carroll, an American sailor, is shipwrecked of the coast of Japan in the 19th century. He makes it to shore and is rescued by kind Yori. The local ruler, Prince Iku, has ordered that all foreigners who are "trespassing" on Japanese soil should be killed. He hears about a foreign sailor who washed ashore and has been hidden by villagers, so he sends his sister Omi San to investigate. She finds Alan, and instead of turning him in to be executed, she falls in love with him. Prince Iku captures both Allan and Yori and intends to execute both of them. Complications ensue.
The Curse of Iku
1918
Movie6.5DocumentaryA meditation on the human quest to transcend physicality, constructed from decaying archival footage and set to an original symphonic score.
Decasia: The State of Decay
2002 · 25 votes
Movie6.2RomanceDramaAn American sailor falls in love with a fisherman's daughter and convinces her that Jesus is more powerful than the gods who have cursed her.
The Wrath of the Gods
1914 · 12 votes
MovieDramaIndian Prince Rhandah is sent to be educated in England. After an English woman flirts with him to steal his betrothal amulet, he returns home embittered. When she and her fiancé are later captured in India, the prince ultimately relents to a plea for mercy.
Each to His Kind
1917
MovieDramaWhile visiting Alan, who works in Tokyo, she attends a festival with her Japanese maid while wearing a Japanese kimono. There she meets the wealthy Arai Takada, who is taken by the mysterious woman. Alan has dishonored and betrayed O'Mitsu, and her brother Arai plans a terrible revenge.
- Movie10.0Drama
A disguised servant of a dying Japanese prince saves articles of succession from a rival faction.
Sen Yan’s Devotion
1924 · 1 votes
Movie7.0DramaWhile attending college in Washington, D.C., Yuki Onda, the daughter of a Japanese samurai, meets and falls in love with Pierre Le Beau, a diplomatic attaché. At the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Pierre is sent to Japan as attaché to the Australian ambassador. When Yuki's father discovers his daughter's romance with a foreigner, he becomes enraged and betroths her to Prince Hagane for political reasons.
The Breath of the Gods
1920 · 1 votes
Movie9.0DramaThe skill of colorful Japanese artist Yamo Masata attracts the attention of a clever counterfeiter who seeks the artist's aid in the preparation of spurious bonds. At first deceived, the artist becomes indignant when he learns the truth of the enterprise.
The Gray Horizon
1919 · 1 votes
Movie10.0DramaDr. John Niblock is conducting research in Japan when he is called to revive Asuti Hishuri, who has fainted during her wedding ceremony. Upon learning that Asuti is being forced into a loveless marriage, the chivalrous John offers to marry the girl in name only and take her to America where she can be free. When John and his Japanese bride arrive in San Francisco, California, the doctor's former sweetheart appears heartbroken, and Asuti realizes that she is in love with Ito, her husband's secretary.
A Tokyo Siren
1920 · 1 votes
Movie9.0CrimeDramaJapanese architect Yoda is hired as groundskeeper for retired criminal Benson Burleigh.
Black Roses
1921 · 1 votes
Movie10.0DramaMysteryReporter Frank Sloan, investigating the disappearance of a Chinese slave girl in Chinatown which leads to opium addiction, job loss, and personal ruin, until a major murder brings him back into the story, revealing the dark underbelly of the district.
The Chinatown Mystery
1915 · 1 votes
MovieDramaTokoramo, a Japanese diplomat on a mission to Paris, begins a love affair with Helene, a chorus girl, who subsequently rejects her American fiancé, Richard Bernisky. When the Japanese discover the affair, they try to force Tokoramo to end it, but Helene refuses to stop visiting him. One night, during one of her visits, Bernisky comes to Tokoramo's apartment and, while Helene hides, rebukes her to her lover. After Bernisky leaves, Tokoramo orders Helene out, but when he realizes his love for her, he calls her back. Suddenly, she rejects and insults him to the point that he strangles her. Tokoramo wants to confess his crime, but he must complete his work, and so his countrymen sacrifice a boy, Hironari, who pleads guilty to the murder and eventually is guillotined. In the end, Tokoramo also dies and his colleagues burn his valuable papers in order to protect Japan. -From the TCM.com Database, powered by the AFI.
The Typhoon
1914
Movie6.5RomanceDramaA wild man and genius becomes a master painter's disciple, but loses his divine gift when he finds love.
The Dragon Painter
1919 · 24 votes
MovieDramaA silent melodrama from the very first series of American films to use a Japanese cast. The scenes of the story are laid in Japan during the last revolution in the late '60's.
O Mimi san
1914
MovieDramaMakino works for Kayosho, a Japanese curio dealer in America. To reward Makino's dedication, Kayosho sends for Toki-ye, a picture bride. Upon arrival, she is married to Makino in a civil ceremony. However, Kayosho intends to keep Toki-ye for himself. This angers Goto, another employee. Kayosho was betrothed to Goto's niece, Hana. One day Kayosho is found dead in a pool.