Volume II: Filmography

MISS TAQU OF TOKIO

British release title: MISS TAGU OF TOKIO

November 19, 1912 (Tuesday)

Length: 1 reel

Character: Drama

Director: Albert W. Hale

Cast: Taku Takagi (Miss Taqu), Harry Benham (Jack, the son), Carey L. Hastings (Jack's mother)

Notes: 1. This was another film in Thanhouser's Japanese series. 2. Taqu was also spelled as "Taku" in some notices. 3. An expanded story by Leona Radnor, based upon this film, appeared in The Motion Picture Story Magazine, December 1912.

SYNOPSIS, The Moving Picture World, November 16, 1912:

"He was the only son of a wealthy and indulgent widowed mother. When he returned from college, he fell in love with his mother's companion. The mother immediately refused her consent to the marriage. When the companion found that her hope of being a rich man's wife would not be fulfilled, she promptly took her departure. Believing himself heartbroken, the son started on a trip around the world. While in Japan he was strongly attracted by a little Japanese girl seen by accident in a tea garden. He was very much in love with Miss Taqu, and made her his wife. Two years after her wayward son left his native land, the widow was delighted to hear from him to the effect that he was returning accompanied by his wife and their infant son. The mother prepared to receive her son in state. To her horror, he entered accompanied by a hated Oriental. The mother was chagrined, but in the joy of getting her boy back, she excused him, and proceeded to enjoy his company, simply ignoring the wife. Realizing that she was neglected by her husband's friends and family, Taqu quietly slipped from the house one night, leaving behind her a message that she was returning to her people. The husband on receiving the message decided that she was right and plunged into a life of gaiety, which seemed great fun after his long absence in a foreign land. But the old friends did not seem the same. Constantly before him rose the figure of Taqu. Taqu took up a residence in the little home near Tokyo that she had once entered as a happy bride, and there to her one day came her husband, repentant and humble, telling her that she and her baby and their little corner of Japan were more precious to him than all the rest of the world."

REVIEW, The Morning Telegraph, November 24, 1912:

"One of the most picturesque offerings of the week, this is also one of the most unique. It relates the romance of a young American who meets a Japanese girl in Japan and makes her his bride, bringing her back with him to the United States. She does not fit in with the new life, however, and he apparently tires of her. So she returns to her native land, but he follows her and makes up for the treatment in full measure."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture News, November 23, 1912:

"Miss Taqu of Tokio is one of the prettiest and at the same time most pathetic of stories. It treats somewhat of racial prejudice, and also of the folly of trying to shake destiny for other than ourselves."

REVIEW, The Moving Picture World, November 23, 1912:

"Little Miss Taqu dominates the picture. Her acting is the best. It is of the sort which not only creates a situation, but through artistry sustains it. Mr. Hale, who directed the picture, also comes in for his share of credit. There was careful attention to the little things that go to make the good film. The photography was of the best Thanhouser quality."

Note: This is a very rare instance in 1912 of a review in The Moving Picture World mentioning a director by name.

REVIEW, The New York Dramatic Mirror, November 20, 1912:

"Miss Taqu is a graceful little actress, capable of creating a good scene, and really, after all is said and done, she is about the only attraction of the picture. Incidentally, it might be mentioned that she is also gifted as a dancer, a demonstration of which is made in her first scene when she meets her American lord-to-be. 'Honored husband,' she writes, 'I go back to my people - all is a mistake - please forget.' He married the girl in Japan, and foolishly brought her to this country, where she was entirely out of her sphere and he was ashamed of her. After she has departed, he attempts to forget in vain. He returns to his home, wife and child, to live amid cherry blossoms. It is well for him that he did go back, for he gives the impression of having an inconsistent nature, and chances are that if he remained in America he would meet up with another love affair. He is the pampered son of a wealthy widow. In the first scene of the picture he is shown returning from college to meet and all in love with his mother's paid companion. When mother discovers the deplorable affair she threatens to disinherit her son unless he gives the girl up. The girl, finding that the hope of being a rich man's wife is impossible in this case, promptly takes her leave. Temporarily heartbroken, the son departs for a tour around the world. There is a delightful, fragrant atmosphere in the picture with the Japanese girl's personality always in the foreground."

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