The Chinese Bungalow

The Marion Osmond-James Corbett stage melodrama The Chinese Bungalow was filmed three times over a thirty-year period. The plot involves a wealthy mandarin named Yuan Sing, who marries a British woman and lives to regret it. The climax is pure melodrama, with Yuan Sing hatching a plot to do away with his wife's paramour. The story was old hat even when it was first filmed in 1926, but the film itself was of superior quality, more than can be said for the creaky 1930 talkie version. This 1956 adaptation attempts to "modernize" the property by making unsubtle references to the Communist takeover of China, suggesting that the protagonist's murderous intentions are (at least partially) politically motivated. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi