Sessue Hayakawa plays Tatsu, a painter who lives alone in the wilderness of Japan. The local population thinks he is crazy because he is convinced that his fiancée is being held captive by a dragon. It is from this boundless grief that he draws his monstrous artistic inspiration. Meanwhile, a famous artist is looking for a successor for his workshop and believes he has found him in Tatsu. The latter is immediately enthusiastic because he believes he has found the lost princess, his fiancée, in the daughter of his new mentor. "The Dragon Painter is a rare Hollywood silent film with an almost exclusively Asian cast, including the Japanese leading actor and superstar Sessue Hayakawa. Produced by Hayakawa's production company, the outdoor scenes were shot in California's spectacular Yosemite National Park." (San Francisco Silent Film Festival 2023)