NFR Project: 'Daughter of Shanghai' (1937)

 

NFR Project: ‘Daughter of Shanghai’

Dir: Robert Florey

Scr: Gladys Unger, Garnett Weston

Pho: Charles Schoenbaum

Ed: Ellsworth Hoagland

Premiere: Dec. 17, 1937

62 min.

This film is a kind of miracle. Somehow, in a time when racial stereotyping in Hollywood film was casual and omnipresent, this film gives us, for the first time, Asian-American characters who are mature, intelligent, articulate, and complex. It’s amazing what you can do if you try.

It helps that its star was Anna May Wong. A California girl who started in film in 1919, Wong was an immensely popular and capable actress who commonly played the mysterious Asian beauty in films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Piccadilly, and Shanghai Express. She was desirous of more substantial parts, and she got Paramount to support her in this effort.

The script of Daughter of Shanghai was written expressly for Wong. In it she plays the daughter of a prominent importer who’s murdered when he refuses to go along with an immigrant-smuggling scheme. She takes it upon herself to infiltrate the operation and expose it; working alongside but not in tandem with F.B.I. man Kim Lee (the great Philip Ahn, early in his career).

The cast is loaded with ringers, despite it being a relatively low-budget affair. Among the bad guys are Charels Bickford, J. Carrol Naish, Buster Crabbe, and a young Anthony Quinn. Robert Florey was an experienced director, and he brings a professional finish to the proceedings, even indulging in some original camerawork to illustrate the action.

The film was released, came and went without any fanfare, only to be discovered decades later. It’s a valuable addition to the National Film Registry, and it shows us what might have been in a better world.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Hindenburg disaster newsreel footage.