Shadow of Chinatown:Feature
by Bob Hill
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bela LugosiDirector: Bob Hill
Brand: Bayside ENT Dist
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-03-29
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Alpha Video
Movie Reviews of Shadow of Chinatown:Feature
Movie Review: Fragments of Chinatown
Summary: 3 Stars
"Shadow of Chinatown" is a 15-chapter serial produced by Sam Katzman and released by Victory Pictures in 1936. This is a 71-minute "feature" made from the 282-minute original, as was commonly done for marketing the film to theaters that didn't run serials. Some of these feature versions are representative of the original; this one tries, with only some success.
The story is set in San Francisco, where European importers, suffering from Chinese competition, direct their business leader, an Eurasian woman named Sonya Rokoff (Luana Walters), to close Chinatown to outsiders, which would ruin the Chinese merchants. She hires another Eurasian, scientist Victor Poten (Bela Lugosi), who has some thugs in Chinese disguise create enough mayhem that the police will close the area. But a newspaper reporter, Joan Whiting (Joan Barclay), unsuccessful at getting information from the police, enlists the aid of her friend, Martin Andrews (Herman Brix) who, with information from his servant Willy Fu (Maurice Liu) has written a book about Chinatown. Andrews acts disinterested, but is soon involved when Joan vanishes after seeing a Chinese businessman abducted. It's no surprise that Poten has bigger plans, including a superior race of his own creation. Sonya, horrified at Poten's brutal methods, finds she is no longer in control of her project, and can do little about it.
Even more than with the full serial, "acting" expectations are not great, though Luana Walters expresses her dilemma quite well, Lugosi can stare hypnotically and has a few gadgets to aid his evil cause, Herman Brix is a good athletic hero and Joan Barclay, with the unfortunate role of a chattering newspaper reporter, at least got some of the worst of it removed for the feature. According to the notes with the Alpha Video release, it was edited by the director, Robert F. Hill, and he probably did about as well as anyone could. The selections avoid much of the footage that was present only to provide action, and retain parts that help make sense of the story. It concentrates on the later chapters, getting through the first six in only twenty minutes. The story can be followed, though the characters' motives are often not clear, and many of the more-entertaining scenes have been cut, such as those where Lugosi is dressed as a telephone repairman, installing voice-activated poisoned needles. The closure of San Francisco's Chinatown happens too quickly, and suddenly Sonya and Poten are on their way to do the same to Chinatown in Los Angeles, travelling on a ship that somehow is also carrying most of their adversaries. There are still large pieces cut out, but from this point it gives a fair idea of the original serial, even if the feature changes Poten's ultimate fate.
Alpha's DVD of the feature, ALP 4699D, is from a later reissue, the distributor identified in the titles as Carmel Productions, whose main work was in the 1950's. The sound is slightly better than on Alpha's complete serial edition, ALP 4240D and ALP 4241D, but while having more high frequency content, it still has quite a bit of distortion in some scenes. Further, background music was added, probably for the Carmel reissue and while not inappropriate, some of it was made a little loud. Its presence makes the dialog even harder to understand in a few places. The image quality is better than on the complete edition if not flawless, sharper and properly-framed, and no spurious color is present.
Despite the mangled plot, the feature may be enough for those who want to see what it is about in a single sitting of reasonable length. It doesn't make an especially good stand-alone movie, and won't satisfy the serial fanatics by itself. The full serial, watched one chapter at a time, is much more entertaining, but the quality of that print is bad enough that this feature is a useful supplement.
Summary of Shadow of Chinatown:Feature
SHADOW OF CHINATOWN:FEATURE - DVD Movie