Mr. Wu (1918)

Edward Gregory is the head of a large trading company in China. One day, he has his son Basil brought to China so he can introduce him to the business. Basil proves lazy and uninterested; his attention is instead focused on the beautiful Nang Ping, the only daughter of the influential Chinese merchant Wu Hang. Mr. Wu is not at all pleased by the flirtation he has observed, so he separates the two by sending his daughter to his country estate. Basil Gregory also feels the force of Mr. Wu’s displeasure at this European-Chinese liaison, as the Chinese man makes him keenly aware of his power. But Basil has no intention of forgetting his Nang Ping, and secretly slips into Mr. Wu’s country house. There, however, Wu’s men quickly seize him. In his great anger at his daughter’s disobedience, Wu has Nang Ping killed. Father Edward Gregory now intervenes and asks Wu to release his son. But Wu refuses and instead demands that the Briton send his wife Alice to him. Alice begs desperately for mercy for her son, but Mr. Wu, dressed in his finest clothes, merely reminds her with a cold smile of a similar encounter they once had in London. At the time, he had courted her favor and affection, only to be mockingly rejected by her. In utter despair, Alice Gregory then attempts to poison herself. But the suspicious Mr. Wu, who believes she is plotting to attack him, switches their teacups and thereby swallows the poison intended for her. As he begins to feel its effects, he tears a sword from the wall with his last strength, intending to kill Alice. But, reeling, the dying man strikes only the large gong, which is the signal for the servants to enter the room. Mr. Wu is dead, and Alice and her son Basil can leave the dreadful place unharmed.