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Shadow of Chinatown More at IMDbPro »

Lugosi Hits the Wong Note, 20 June 2008

Author: wes-connors from Earth

"A group of Chinese merchants and importers are the target of a European import firm that uses a beautiful Eurasian girl and a mad scientist as the means to put them out of business. A newspaper reporter and her dashing boyfriend learn of the problems the Chinatown businessmen are dealing with and decide to investigate," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

"Shadow of Chinatown" is a feature length version of the recently released 15-part serial; its shortened length is a welcome digestion, considering the lack of quality on display.

Super hypnotist Bela Lugosi (as Victor Poten) is more stupefying than hypnotic. Though Mr. Lugosi gets top billing, Bruce Bennett stars (as Martin "Marty" Andrews); and, he is a serviceable serial hero. Joan Barclay and Luana Walters add feminine wiles. The players appear to have blocked their scenes, and know their lines well enough for a quick read through. Mr. Bennett has some good fighting scenes; for example, the one atop a building, with Charles King. There is a semi-cool car chase, with 1930s automobiles and an old "Stop"/"Go" traffic signal.

This is an unwatchable 'movie'., 18 March 2007

Author: junk-monkey (liam@merriol.freeserve.co.uk) from Highlands of Scotland

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The serial from which this piece of drek was edited runs at 300 minutes. Given that that 300 minutes will include a certain amount of duplication and easily losable material: the opening, and end credits, a wee reprise before the cliffhanger ending, and maybe one of the scrolling Flash Gordon / Star Wars "Episode 4 the bad guys have trapped..." intros, there is still no way on Earth anything of that length could have been edited down to a mere 65 minutes and retained any kind of coherence it may have possessed. Not having seen the original I can't comment on the story as it was intended to play over the 15 chapters but what is left doesn't leave much hope for it having been any better.

The hero, plucky girl reporter heroine and side-kicks move around as if they were all glued together in some way. The direction is so clumsy, and the movie making so cheap, that often they will move across a room en masse to where the next set-up is to be so that they can all crowd into the same frame and do away with the need for any matching shots or close ups. The high spot of this technique was the moment when, realising the man they were searching for was in the next room, all four of them left the villains they had been pursuing forever, unguarded and went through to look at his comatose body for just long enough for the arch-villain (Lugosi) to appear put his minions under the 'fluence and escape with one of them.

This is dross. It was dross when it was made. It does however hold some sort of record for the number of 'people lurking outside half-open doors listening to conversations' shots in any feature film of the 20th century.

Avoid.

0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Fair, 11 March 2008
Author: Michael_Elliott from Louisville, KY

Shadow of Chinatown (1936)

** (out of 4)

Feature version

European businessmen want the China trades shut down so they hire a madman (Bela Lugosi) to destroy Chinatown. This was originally a 15-part serial but this here is the feature version of that and it isn't too bad. I haven't seen the serial version but the feature runs pretty fast, although you're left with a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense due to all the editing that was done. Sometimes these feature versions can be good but this isn't one of them. Another bad thing is the performance from Lugosi who really sleepwalks through his role. Had he gone over the top then that would have made the film somewhat better.

0 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Bad feature version of a bad serial. Containing possibly the worst Bela Lugosi nonperformance, this is a movie to avoid unless you like to torture yourself, 6 July 2006

Author: dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York

Feature version of a serial of the same name has Bela Lugosi turning tables on a woman who hired him to help with her evil plans in Chinatown while a reported and her beau hunt down the villains.

One of the few things worse than this movie is the full length serial version. That monstrosity put me to sleep with its wild over length (15 chapters with enough plot for 2) and the same poor production values that make this film just as bad. I've seen almost every sound serial ever made, but the original serial was a chore and a half to get through and I never finished it (its one of the few). I have no idea what possessed me to try the feature version other than, perhaps selective amnesia about the original. Here the story unfolds in approximately one fifth the time but its a hopeless mess with an attempt to get a good portion of the "good bits" into it. Making matters worse is the cheapness of the film, this was an independent production and had a limited budget. There's tons of stock footage, almost no music and a technical quality (especially the sound) thats lacking.

In the "of note" column, and its not really a good thing, is the fact that this stands as one of the worst performances Bela Lugosi ever gave. I'm not even sure its a performance. Even in the final days Bela was never this disconnected to what he was doing. Its mind numbingly awful. Fortunately he's not alone since a good many of the other actors are clearly collecting a pay check not to act. Herman Brix, who would soon change his name to Bruce Bennett and move on to better things does give a performance, even if its phoned in.

Bad film lovers may want to see this on fast forward, but otherwise I'd avoid it at all costs.

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