Sometimes it is enough that a film give you an interesting perspective on the times. In that way, what originally was a piece of light fiction becomes instead a documentary. The story here is cobbled together from modules common of the era:
Beautiful "girl" goes undercover to avenge murder of her father and has at least one episode of having to be sexy. A pre-noir detective is on the case. Some novel or exotic element from culture or is thrown in. This time it is the smuggling of Asians. Both our beauty and detective are Asian actors.
At the end, there is an admiring mention of the brand new social security act.
The tone of this is fascinating, a balance of admiration and respect for the Chinese with just enough alien helplessness to color it. (They are saved by a dumb Irishman; dumb as he is, and as reviled as his cohort of immigrants were at the time, he represents here good old American values.)
The settings contrast the order of San Francisco to the unruliness of the "Asian seas." The cargo of Chinese sometimes gets tossed into the sea by opening the bomb bay — something then brand new. Movie viewers would be aware of this innovation through newsreels touting the design of what would then be called the Y1B-17, later the B-17.
Tossed in: the head of the gang, someone described throughout as mean, cheap and to be feared — is a society matron, and there is a mother-daughter betrayal subtext going on. The matron is "white" of course and early in the film we know she is an avid purchaser of Chinese princess regalia.
A brief tour through public interest in weapon design, racial awareness and critical introspection into American values and capitalism.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
Beautiful "girl" goes undercover to avenge murder of her father and has at least one episode of having to be sexy. A pre-noir detective is on the case. Some novel or exotic element from culture or is thrown in. This time it is the smuggling of Asians. Both our beauty and detective are Asian actors.
At the end, there is an admiring mention of the brand new social security act.
The tone of this is fascinating, a balance of admiration and respect for the Chinese with just enough alien helplessness to color it. (They are saved by a dumb Irishman; dumb as he is, and as reviled as his cohort of immigrants were at the time, he represents here good old American values.)
The settings contrast the order of San Francisco to the unruliness of the "Asian seas." The cargo of Chinese sometimes gets tossed into the sea by opening the bomb bay — something then brand new. Movie viewers would be aware of this innovation through newsreels touting the design of what would then be called the Y1B-17, later the B-17.
Tossed in: the head of the gang, someone described throughout as mean, cheap and to be feared — is a society matron, and there is a mother-daughter betrayal subtext going on. The matron is "white" of course and early in the film we know she is an avid purchaser of Chinese princess regalia.
A brief tour through public interest in weapon design, racial awareness and critical introspection into American values and capitalism.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.