The Wrath of the Gods (1914) User Reviews

Buddha vs. Christ

[Cineanalyst · 7/10 · 17 October 2009]

In this early feature, "The Wrath of the Gods", a father (played by Sessue Hayakawa, who's rather unrecognizable under make-up to make him appear older) and daughter (Tsuru Aoki, who married Hayakawa shortly before the release of this film) live under a Buddhist curse that prevents the daughter from being married, lest the Japanese island they inhabit be destroyed by the wrath of the gods. Then, comes along a shipwrecked American Christian (played by Frank Borzage, before his career shifted to directing such classics as "7th Heaven" (1927) and "A Farewell to Arms" (1932)), who converts the Japanese family to his religion and plans to marry the daughter.

Clearly, "The Wrath of the Gods" is rather bigoted in its promotion of Christianity as a peaceful and loving religion and its portrayal of Buddhism as vengeful and violent. Really, the filmmakers display no insight or full understanding of either belief. Beyond this questionable text, however, the film is rather well made for its time and has an exciting climax, with scenes of an angry mob of Buddhists and the wrath of the gods displayed in a volcano eruption. There's some quick editing during the climax, in addition to the special effects to achieve the volcanic eruption, which includes lots of smoke and fire, falling debris and the use of a (obvious) miniature volcano. Additionally, it's interesting to compare this erupting volcano to that in other early silents: "The Last Days of Pompeii" (1913), "Cabiria" (1914) and "Victory" (1919).

Hayakawa is pretty good here, although he's better in the following year's "The Cheat" and in the other film available on the same DVD, "The Dragon Painter" (1919). He commits a few broad gestures in this one, including by holding out his arm. Additionally, it's understandable after seeing "The Wrath of the Gods" and "The Cheat" that he would want to assume more control of the scenarios by starting his own production company. Tsuru Aoki becomes the main focus of this picture, though, as she outshines her would-be husband.

ideologically problematic yet fascinating in its rarity

[babymansharku · 7/10 · 27 May 2018]

Despite the problematic ideology -- westerner/christianity as the savior instead of invader and the vilifying of Oriental religions as well as people, the film is amazing in its spectacles of natural disasters (typhoon, fire, volcano), the extraordinary performance of Sessue Hayakawa and Tsuru Aoki, and the representation of cross-racial romantic relationship. The last one, although framed as the success of western domination in the story, is a rare case of cross-racial love that has a happy ending, unlike the countless films in which the Asian girls will eventually and almost inevitably die as a gesture of sacrifice and the token of the impossibility of cross-racial love. Also, there is a brief kissing scene between Tsuru Aoki and Frank Borzage (!), which makes the relationship even rarer since cross-racial kissing was supposed to be a visual taboo.

Cinema's First Cross-Cultural Film

[springfieldrental · 7/10 · 22 May 2021]

The January 1914 volcanic eruption on the Japanese island of Sakura-Jima spurred film producer Thomas Ince, who ran the large Inceville (Triangle Ranch) production facility in Southern California, to write and create cinema's first cross-cultural movie, June 1914's "The Wrath of the Gods."

Ince's script consisted of an American shipwrecked sole survivor washed up on a Japanese island. He's found by the father (played by Sessue Hayakawa) of a daughter who is cursed by the island's religious leaders of igniting the local volcano if she marries. The local youths are told to stay away from the woman, but the American, played by Frank Borzage, falls in love with her. They marry, setting off a fiery chain of events.

Leading up to its premier in June, "The Wrath of the Gods" production studio New York Picture Corporation unveiled a publicity campaign not seen to this extent before. From February during its filming all the way to its premier, the studio ran ads in major publications hyping the movie. Its opening at New York City's recently opened movie palace The Strand caused such a sensation, especially aroused seeing its volcanic special effects, that film audiences flocked to see the motion picture. Film exhibitor Marcus Loew rented Brooklyn, N. Y.'s Ebbets Field to accommodate 20,000 paying customers for the projected movie. Over 40,000 showed up, only to see thousands turned away because of the limited capacity. This resulted in a riot where three New York City police precincts responded to contain the damage.

Its Japanese premier in 1918, was far different in scope. After one showing, "The Wrath of the Gods" was banned from Japan. Officials in that country were outraged at its portrayal of Japanese culture showcasing its barbarity and its Christianity over Buddhism message.

"The Wrath of the Gods" is also noteworthy of being Sessue Hayakawa's first movie he appeared in. The Japanese-born actor was a stage performer in the United States when Ince saw him in the play "Typhoon." Impressed, the film producer immediately signed him to a contract, beginning Hayakawa's lengthy movie career. Today's audiences will recognize him by his Academy Award nominated Best Supporting Actor role in 1957's "The Bridge Over The River Kwai" as the Japanese camp commandant. Hayakawa was dating the female lead in "The Wrath of the Gods," Tsuru Aoki (who played his daughter) while filming the movie, and both married a month before the picture premiered.

Frank Borzaga, the American lover in the film, broke into cinema as an actor before turning to directing in 1915. He earned the Academy Awards first Best Director trophy for his 1927 movie "7th Heaven," followed up three years later with another Best Director Academy Award for his 1931 "Bad Girl."

When World Collide

[boblipton · 8/10 · 13 September 2007]

An excellent melodrama as Tsuru Aoki marries American sailor Frank Borzage -- a curly-haired fellow before he turned director -- despite a family curse that causes volcanoes to 'empty their bowels' when daughters marry -- apparently no such penalty befalls the men. Sessue Hayakawa, in heavy makeup, is unrecognizable as, indeed, are most of the actors, but director Reginald Barker, about to embark on a course of William S. Hart movies, produces a marvelous set-piece of a lynch mob on the trail of the lovers and the father, who has converted to Christianity, followed, of course, by a volcanic eruption. It all holds your interest expertly and you should not miss a chance to see this one.

Pretty amazing for 1914.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 4 June 2011]

There area couple interesting things about this film. Although it stars a lot of Japanese actors (or Japanese-American actors), the movie was actually filmed in Santa Monica, California. In addition, the westerner who falls in love with the fisherman's daughter is played by Frank Borzage--a guy known today as a director--and a very famous one at that. Apparently, before directing, he'd had a very prolific career as an actor--all during the silent era. By the time talkies were here, Borzage was quite famous and had just won the first Oscar for directing.

The film is set in Japan. A fisherman's daughter, Toya San (Tsuru Aoki), has apparently angered her Shinto gods and is cursed. When an American (Borsage) washes up on shore, he teachers her about Christianity and she decides to convert and marry the man--to the consternation of her traditional father. However, dad VERY quickly decides to convert and all is well...right? Well, apparently the locals (stirred up by a crazy looking guy with a stick) aren't quite so charmed by these conversions--nor, apparently, are her old gods. What is this young couple to do?! While today the film might seem a bit old fashioned or even preachy, for 1914 it's dandy entertainment--with amazing special effects for the time. I think today we expect amazing effects and old films like this seem antiquated, but I know that if you compare it to other films of the era, it stacks up very well. However, as I watched this film I wondered if the original movie might have been much longer. That's because several times instead of seeing what happened it seems to either skip things or condenses long periods of the film into a single intertitle card--such as just after the sailor lands. Still, a silent well worth seeing.

Thomas Ince's Japanese Drama the First Hollywood Film to Cast Asian Stars

[briantaves · 15 October 2011]

Thomas Ince's willingness to tackle subjects usually avoided by others, and to unhesitatingly do so with skill, was noted by reviewers of the time. As a result, be became one of the first in the film business to foreground ethnicity, having noted a demand for realism on the part of audiences that many of his contemporaries overlooked. Among the initial beneficiaries of the modern star system at the studio were the first Asian-born individuals to become Hollywood stars, Tsuru Aoki (1891-1961) and Sessue Hayakawa (1889-1973).

Aoki had come to the United States at the age of 8, arriving in the company of her uncle, an actor, and deciding to remain after being educated in Pasadena schools. Publicity for her first feature with Ince falsely claimed that Aoki was a native of the island practically destroyed by the eruption of the volcano Sakura-Jaima on January 13, 1914. This became The Wrath of the Gods (also known as The Destruction of Sakura-Jima or the Wrath of the Gods), a four reel Domino feature shot within days of the disaster, from January 27 to Feburary 13. The movie evolved around Japanese legends and depicted the scene and aftermath of the eruption.

Toya San (Aoki) and her father, Baron Yamaki (Hayakawa), live in impoverished isolation by the sea, for the Buddha has cursed them for an ancestor's affront to the temple. Toya San is the last descendant; if any of the family's daughters marry, the volcano will erupt. Rather than a conflict of race, it is one between the changing generations, with the daughter unwilling to continue her father's acceptance of the curse.

Toya San is introduced by the seashore, full of life and youth, naturally flirtatious, attractive to men until they learn her true identity. An old prophet, Takeo (Thomas Kurihara), continually incites potential grooms and villagers against the family. Bitter, Toya San renounces her faith in the Buddha for so cursing the innocent.

Promptly the gusting winds show the deity's displeasure, resulting in a storm that wrecks a nearby vessel. The only survivor is an American sailor, Tom Wilson (significantly bearing the name of the current president, Woodrow Wilson, and played by Frank Borzage), who is rescued by the family.

Within three months, Toya San and Tom are in love, and offers her the cross as the symbol of a just god, overcoming her spiritual and romantic loneliness. Any Madame Butterfly similarities are eliminated by the fact that Tom is also the only one willing to love her, and Toya San is anything but a passive heroine. Her father still fears the wrath of the gods, so Tom undertakes to convert him to Christianity.

Despite qualms arising from strange weather, Tom and Toya San walk to the village and are wed at the local Japanese-American mission. Yamaki confronts his idol of the Buddha with his home-made wooden cross, but the townspeople, led by Takeo, go on a murderous rampage at Yamaki's home, the women cheering. In a pattern reminiscent of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel, The Last Days of Pompeii (1834) and similar stories, nature itself provides the rebuke to the evident immorality.

Fulfilling the foreshadowing throughout The Wrath of the Gods, the climax shows the eruption destroying the village. Takeo seemingly finds himself pursued by an avalanche, demonstrating just who the wrath of the gods has fallen upon. Audiences of the time were reportedly overwhelmed, especially by quick cutting and West's effects, showing an expanse of shoreline engulfed by smoke and fire, with some particularly effective fiery miniatures. A whole Japanese village was built in the Santa Monica canyon, and Ince and W.H. Clifford provided the scenario directed by Reginald Barker.

Only Tom and Toya San survive, gaining a United States merchant vessel in the harbor which barely escapes the paroxysm of explosions and fire. At the end, Tom tells his bride, "Your gods may be powerful, Toya San, but mine has proved his omnipotence. You are saved to perpetuate your race." The couple embrace closely; there has never been a hint of racial separation or divide in the film, and the very family line that the Buddha had condemned to extinction will be carried on.