China Gate (1957)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Samuel Fuller

Writer:

Samuel Fuller (writer)

Release Date:

August 1957 (Austria)

Genre:

Action | War | Drama

Tagline:

An American dynamiter love-locked in war-locked China!

Plot:

Near the end of the French phase of the Vietnam War, a group of mercenaries are recruited to travel through enemy territory to the Chinese border...

Plot Keywords:

Sergeant | Vietnam | Vietnam War | Smuggler | Racist

Cast

Gene Barry	...	Sgt. Brock
Angie Dickinson	...	Lucky Legs
Nat 'King' Cole	...	Goldie
Paul Dubov	...	Capt. Caumont
Lee Van Cleef	...	Maj. Cham
George Givot	...	Cpl. Pigalle
Gerald Milton	...	Pvt. Andreades
Neyle Morrow	...	Leung
Marcel Dalio	...	Father Paul
Maurice Marsac	...	Col. De Sars
Warren Hsieh	...	The Boy
Paul Busch	...	Cpl. Kruger
James Hong	...	Charlie
William Soo Hoo	...	Moi Leader
Walter Soo Hoo	...	Guard

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Bronson Caves, Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Globe Enterprises

Trivia:

Victor Young had begun composing the film score when he died on November 10, 1956 at age 57. His friend Max Steiner, borrowed from Warner Bros., then shaped Mr. Young's notations and completed the score. Both men received credit on screen. The title song, written by Victor Young and lyricist Harold Adamson, was sung twice in the picture by Nat 'King' Cole, whose commercial recording with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra became the B-side of a Capitol single. On the A-side was the clever novelty, "When Rock and Roll Come to Trinidad" (music by Marvin Fisher, lyrics by Roy Alfred).

Goofs:

Continuity: Film flopped when Lucky Legs and Sgt. Brock go into the tree house. The sniper has a left handed rifle, Sgt. Brock's knife is on the wrong side, and his watch has moved to his right wrist.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera (1996)

Soundtrack:

China Gate

anti-commie anti-racism from the great Sam Fuller

On this evidence, Fuller is a strident and uncompromising anti-Communist anti-racist. You heard me. This is a late-50s movie about 'Indochina' - a little ahead of the curve there! - which takes the USA to task for not leaping right in there with their French pals; the enemy has Stalin all over the wall of their lookout posts. So it's more than a little silly, to put it nicely. But given this, the racial issues it confronts are above and beyond the call of duty - the espionage tour our heroes embark on is really an opportunity for dynamite expert Gene Barry to smarten up after abandoning his distinctly Asian-featured kid from his liaison with half-white Lucky Legs (Angie Dickinson). Along the way there are exciting scenes, surprisingly well-modulated performances, and a budget-conscious stylistic trick I've never seen before: shot almost entirely in wide master shot, Fuller constantly pans-and-scans the black-and-white Scope image to approximate camera movement. Here's a guy who's smart enough to know that grainy (not to mention silly) won't matter if the damn thing MOVES.