Shadow of Chinatown (I) (1936)

A madman sets out to destroy a group of Chinatown merchants.

Director:

Robert F. Hill

Writers:

Robert F. Hill (original story), Isadore Bernstein (continuity),

Stars:

Bela Lugosi, Bruce Bennett, Joan Barclay

Cast

Cast overview:
Bela Lugosi	...	Victor Poten
Bruce Bennett	...	Martin Andrews (as Herman Brix)
Joan Barclay	...	Joan Whiting
Luana Walters	...	Sonya Rokoff, aka The Dragon Lady [Chs. 1-14]
Maurice Liu	...	Willy Fu
Charles King	...	Henchman Grogan [Chs. 1-13]
William Buchanan	...	Henchman Healy
Forrest Taylor	...	Police Capt. Walters [Chs. 1-7, 12-15]
John Cowell	...	White Chinaman [Ch. 1] (as Jack Cowell)
James B. Leong	...	Wong [Chs. 5-13]
Henry T. Tung	...	Dr. Wu [Chs. 1-5, 12-15]
Paul Fung	...	Tom Chu [Chs. 1,2]
George Chan	...	Old Luce [Chs. 1,2,7]
Moy Ming	...	Wong's Brother Charlie [Chs. 10-11]

Storyline

Released both as a 15-chapter serial and as a condensed feature version (for theaters that didn't use serials) which means that all of the cast and crew would one day be credited in some sources with a misleading extra film appearance added to their filmographies even though they only worked on (and got paid) for one performance or job. The story (serial and/or feature) deals with the plotting of a European importing firm to put Chinese trade competition in a west coast Chinatown - city unnamed, but it's by the bay and it isn't Oakland - out of business. Their representative, Sonya Rokoff/The Dragon Lady, a beautiful Eurasian girl, hires Victor Poten, a mad Eurasian chemist and inventor and an equal-opportunity racist who hates both Chinese and White races, to aid her. Poten, by means of his infernal inventions and underworld henchmen, conducts successful raids on the Chinese merchants and also successfully eludes the people hunting and investigating him. Those include newspaper ...

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Plot Keywords:

serial | chinatown | underworld | poisoning | wine | 

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Taglines:

Thrills and chills and shivering shocks as a crazed scientist terrorizes the underworld!

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Genres:

Crime | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 October 1936 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Sombra do Bairro Chinês

Company Credits

Production Co:

Victory Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

281 min 281 min (15 chapters)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The titles of the 15 individual chapters, and their respective running times are:

• The Arms of the Gods: 26.15
• The Crushing Walls: 17.00
• 13 Ferguson Alley: 17.00
• Death on the Wire: 17.04
• The Sinister Ray: 16.25
• The Sword Thrower: 17.25
• The Noose: 21.29
• Midnight: 17.32
• The Last Warning: 18.46
• The Bomb: 20.00
• Thundering Doom: 18.31
• Invisible Gas: 18.22
• The Brink of Disaster: 18.27
• The Fatal Trap: 18.25
• The Avenging Powers: 17.48
• The chapters have a total running time of 280.5 minutes (4 hours 40 minutes)

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Goofs

At the end of chapter 14 (repeated at the beginning of 15) you can clearly hear the director cuing Luana Walters to begin running.

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Quotes

Willy Fu: I accede to honorable request of thugs.

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Connections

Featured in Cinemassacre's Monster Madness: The Phantom Creeps (2010)

User Reviews

Another Sleep Inducer

As I often say, I enjoy watching the master, Lugosi, in just about anything. The problem with this is he doesn't have much to do. In order to create a serial, it's necessary for the bad guy to continue to goof up, leaving his adversaries alive to continue the pursuit. The episodes are an endless trapezing of zombie like lackeys and air headed reporters. There's enough sexism to go around for a long time. The conclusion will make some gag. Chinatown businesses are the target of Lugosi who is "Eurasian" and very angry about something, I guess being Eurasian. He tries to destroy the town just for spite. It's an endless parade of pratfalls and silly hypnotism. The one young Asian woman is very beautiful. She is the honorable one in the film, but has been used by Lugosi and he has a hypnotic control over her. It all comes out in the wash, as if we cared.