The Toll of the Sea debuts as the first general release film to use two-tone Technicolor. (The Gulf Between was the first film to do so, but it was not widely distributed.)
The Toll of the Sea is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by Chester M. Franklin, produced by the Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation, released by Metro Pictures, and featuring Anna May Wong in her first leading role. The film was written by Frances Marion and directed by Chester M. Franklin (brother of director Sidney Franklin), with the lead roles played by Wong and Kenneth Harlan. The plot was a variation of the Madama Butterfly story, set in China instead of Japan.
The film was the second Technicolor feature (after 1917's The Gulf Between), the first color feature made in Hollywood, and the first Technicolor color feature anywhere that did not require a special projector to be used for screenings.The film premiered on November 26, 1922, at the Rialto Theatre in New York City, and went into general release on January 22, 1923.