DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI (Paramount, 1937), directed by Robert Florey, is one of several similar themed stories produced at that time regarding Chinese smuggling of human cargo, and the dangers revolving through this illegal activity. It stars Anna May Wong in the title role in a story not set in Shanghai but that as a daughter of a Chinaman living in San Francisco. As with many second features produced by Paramount, DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI is relatively known for being a rare instance of having Asian actors playing Asian characters, an assignment well performed by Anna May Wong and Philip Ahn.
The story begins with newspaper clippings montaged on screen with headlines dealing with a smuggling ring of human cargo. The story gets underway as two pilots, Harry Morgan (Anthony Quinn) and James Lang (John Patterson), are seen transferring Chinese aliens in the back of the airplane into San Francisco, and are being pursued by a government airplane. To destroy the evidence and lose $6,000 , the human cargo on board get released through a flip floor door below where they all drop to to the ocean left to drown. Kim Lee (Philip Ahn), of the department of justice, is hired to investigate these crimes. Lan Ying Lin (Anna May Wong) is introduced as the daughter of Quin Lin (Ching Wah Lee), a successful merchant of San Francisco's Chinese Art Importation. As he is assisting Mary Hunt (Cecil Cunningham), one of his influential customers he's known for eleven years, Quin is approached in the next room by Frank Barden (J. Carroll Naish) and Andrew Steele (Larry "Buster" Crabbe) suggesting he work with them in their smuggling ring. Naturally he refuses and has men escorted out. Mrs. Hunt assists Quin by inviting him to her home to meet with a man who can help him. On their way by taxi to Mrs. Hunt's estate, both father and daughter are taken to the wrong part of town where the taxi enters into the back of the truck labeled Lambert's Van Storage Co. Where the victims become targets to a shooting. With Quin Lin killed and Lan Ying left for dead, she survives and manages to break away without being seen as the taxi is released and dumped into the ocean. After coming to Mrs. Hunt's home , Lan Ying meets with Chinese G-Man, Kim Lee (Philip Ahn), a man who could assist her. She then decides to go out on her own to locate a man known Hartman, who might be the ring leader of the organization. Tracing Otto Hartman (Charles Bickford) to a cabaret on a Central American island of Port O Juan, she is hired as a dancer called "The Daughter of Shanghai," while at the same time trying to gather information from a book that may include the evidence she needs. How Lan Yin will be able to get on the Jenny Hawks boat bound for San Francisco becomes another matter of life and death if captured. Co-starring Evelyn Brent (Olga Derey, Hartman's jealous mistress); Fred Kohler Sr., Guy Bates Post, Pierre Watkin, Frank Sully, Ernest Whitman and Mae Busch (of Laurel and Hardy fame).
For Anna May Wong's leading role, DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI contains enough ingredients to hold interest throughout its fast-paced 63 minutes. Crucial scenes include Wong's two near death experiences, along with characters making viewers wonder which one(s) who can or who cannot be trusted. Though Charles Bickford gets second billing under Anna May Wong in the credits, his character is minor, appearing late into the story, while Philip Ahn, billed ninth, with enough scenes to be classified as her co-star. It is also interesting finding Cecil Cunningham, usually playing female managers or wisecracking characters, often without screen credit, to have a significant role of a wealthy matron, and Buster Crabbe, billed as Larry Crabbe, playing a villain rather than the hero.
Rarely shown on commercial television for decades, broadcast on New York City television's WPIX, Channel 11, in 1973, DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI has become a worthy rediscovery when it premiered on Turner Classic Movies June 10, 2008, with re-broadcasts later as part of the topic of "Asian Actors on Film" and Star of the Month tribute to Anna May Wong.
While Wong had leading parts in other Paramount features (1937-1939), DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI happens to be the best of the lot. Never distributed on video cassette, a copy on DVD can be found from a private collector. (**1/2).
