Daughter of Shanghai (1937)
"Daughter of Shanghai"
(Paramount)
Hollywood, Dec. 14. — Highly sensational in character, Daughter of Shanghai is a throwback to the old 10, 20 and 30-cent melodrama, the kind that used to have the gallery gods cheering the heroes and hissing the villains. Returning Anna May Wong to the screen, it features her with Philip Ahn as the only heroic characters in the company of a platoon of heavies.
The plot has to do with the experiences encountered by the pair in breaking up an alien smuggling ring. Their adventures take them from San Francisco to a tropical island. In the swank dens of the smugglers, in a ribald honky tonk, in taxicabs, airplanes and aboard ship, the perils they face are seemingly insurmountable, yet they triumph over all.
Based on a story by Garnett Weston, which he and Gladys Unger adapted, theme content is highly theatrical. So is Robert Florey's direction. The players, too, perform in highly theatrical style.
Though cast as an avenging angel, Miss Wong is given several opportunities to display her physical charm. Philip Ahn works hard trying to make his role of Chinese undercover government investigator look plausible. Charles Bickford, Larry Crabbe, J. Carrol Naish, Evelyn Brent, Fred Kohler are as realistic menaces as anyone could want and Cecil Cunningham is a surprise one.
The picture stands little chance of making anything but the second class neighborhood houses.
Running time, 60 minutes.
"A."
Collection: Motion Picture Daily, July 1937
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Anna May Wong (黄柳霜) | Charles Bickford | Buster Crabbe | Cecil Cunningham | Robert Florey (Director)
Rest of cast:
J. Carrol Naish | Anthony Quinn | John Patterson | Evelyn Brent | Philip Ahn (안필립) | Fred Kohler | Guy Bates Post | Virginia Dabney | Paulita Arvizu | Carmen Bailey | Ted Billings | Agostino Borgato | Marie Burton | Mae Busch | Spencer Chan | Wong Chung | Chick Collins | Gino Corrado | Sheila Darcy | Paula DeCardo | Jimmy Dime | Jimmie Dundee | Paul Fix | Norah Gale | Kit Guard | Harriette Haddon | John Hart | Abe Hollandersky | Billy Jones | Gwen Kenyon | Carmen Laroux | Ching Wah Lee | Maurice Liu | Andre Marsaudon | Joyce Mathews | Tina Menard | Helaine Moler | Bill Powell | Constantine Romanoff | Alma Ross | Lee Shumway | Harry Strang | Frank Sully | Layne Tom Jr. | Sammee Tong | Archie Twitchell | Blanca Vischer | Pierre Watkin | Ernest Whitman | Charles C. Wilson | Mrs. Wong Wing | Alex Woloshin | Beal Wong | Bruce Wong | Michael Wu | Boris Morros (Musical Director) | Phil Boutelje (Composer: Stock Music) | Gerard Carbonara (Composer: Stock Music) | Werner Janssen (Composer: Stock Music) | Gordon Jenkins (Composer: Stock Music) | Charles Kisco (Composer: Stock Music) | John Leipold (Composer: Stock Music) | Ralph Rainger (Composer: Stock Music) | Milan Roder (Composer: Stock Music) | Heinz Roemheld (Composer: Stock Music) | Al Siegel (Composer: Stock Music) | Gregory Stone (Composer: Stock Music) | Ernst Toch (Composer: Stock Music) | Charles Hisserich (Sound Recordist) | Richard Olson (Sound Recordist) | Ellsworth Hoagland (Editor) | Eugene Joseff (Costume Jeweller) | Hans Dreier (Art Director) | Robert Odell (Art Director) | A. E. Freudeman (Interior Decorator) | Gladys Unger (Screenplay) | Garnett Weston (Screenplay) | Garnett Weston (Story) | William Hurlbut (Additional Dialogue) | William LeBaron (Executive Producer) | Harold Hurley (Producer) | Edward T. Lowe Jr. (Producer) | Charles Edgar Schoenbaum (Cinematographer) | Stanley Goldsmith (Assistant Director) | Adolph Zukor (Presenter)