Chinatown After Dark (1931)

Pretty crude stuff, and all filmed in the dark, mostly. Hope your nerves can stand this near silent-like film. After all, it was 1931. The acting is pretty stiff too. But let's cut the film some slack, it was made a very long time ago. The use of an American actress's to talk Chinese is pretty lame. Ying Sue (Madam Poppy) the lead villain, sounds more like a Russian trying to speak Chinese. A dagger holds a king's ransom jewel in the handle and causes no end to trouble for the American who delivers it to the rightful owner, Lee Fong, who is shot for the dagger. A brother, James Bonner follows to check on things. The police, a Detective Horatio Dooley, is hopelessly a heavy as he investigates Lee Fong's murder. The brother falls in love with an American orphan, Miss Lotus, who speaks broken english trying to be of chinese origin. This one should be looked at in era it was made, shortly after the silents. The pacing is curiously pretty good. Its slow enough to understand what's going on. SEE the entire film at: http://www.archive.org/details/chinatown_after_dark REVIEWS of the film: 1 A film like this must be viewed for what it is...an archaic look into the history of movies. It is very easy to see the still powerful influence of silent movie styling. Sit back and have a charming ride. 2 This one creaks more than my hundred-and-seventy-year-old living room floor. Its attractions are a hokey plot with matching dialog, and performances from the stiff-as-a-board school of acting. An amazingly bad director ties it all together. Yeah, I liked it. If you're in the right frame of mind you'll find enough to laugh at in this undercooked chop suey of a mystery. 3 ... one has to appreciate how the film industry evolved to what it is today. They where still practically making silent films. Please, it was 1931, don't compare the storyboard and technique to today's quality. SIMPLY ENJOY NOSTALGIC 4 Not only is the lead character not asian she can't even imitate the asian stereotypes of the day.. Plot concerning dagger with jewels inside is elementary dime novel stuff. Could be pre noir, but actually just poor lighting. Cast Carmel Myers as Madame Ying Su Rex Lease as James 'Jim' Bonner Barbara Kent as Lotus Edmund Breese as Le Fong Frank Mayo as Ralph Bonner Billy Gilbert as Horatio Dooley Michael Visaroff as Mr. Varonoff Laska Winters as Ming Fu Directed by Stuart Paton Produced by Ralph M. Like Written by Betty Burbridge Music by Lee Zahler Cinematography Jules Cronjager Editing by Byron Robinson Viola Roehl Release date(s) 15 October 1931 Running time 59 minutes