Benson Fong Movies
The story goes that Benson Fong was a California grocer when, in 1943, he was asked by a talent scout if he'd like to be in a movie (Asian types were, of course, highly sought after during the War years). Actually, Fong had been accepting occasional movie bit parts as early as 1937. After his requisite wartime appearances as hateful Japanese soldiers and courageous Chinese freedom fighters, Fong showed up as Charlie Chan's "number three son" Tommy in four Monogram-produced "Chan" programmers. On the advice of his friend Gregory Peck, Fong added to his acting income by becoming a successful restaurateur, with several top eateries in the southern California region to his name. Active in films into the 1980s, Benson Fong also showed up from time to time on TV, notably as "The Old One" on Kung Fu. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1973
Time for Love, aka New Kind of Love, was the pilot for an unsold anthology series. The throughline of the anthology was to have been "Opposites Attract," to which many viewers added, "Yeah? And then what?" The two stories comprising the pilot both trod the tired old "Shy and Nonshy" route. In one story, conservative junior executive John Davidson falls for swinging convention hostess Lauren Hutton. In the other, timid teacher Bonnie Bedelia is enchanted by rock star Chris Mitchum, who is trying to escape his screaming fans. Time for Love was the brainchild of Stirling Silliphant, one of the most prolific and successful writers of TV's so-called Golden Age. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1952
Back at the Front is the second of two film comedies based on the wartime cartoons of Bill Mauldin. As in Up Front, the principal characters are woebegone GIs Willie and Joe: Tom Ewell is back as Willie, but Harvey Lembeck replaces David Wayne as Joe. The original purpose of Mauldin's newspaper cartoons--to give enlisted men a surreptitious means of blowing off steam concerning the iniquities of war and the occasional idiocies of their officers--is completely ignored in Back at the Front. Instead, we are offered a very standard spy plot set in postwar Tokyo, involving femme fatale Mari Blanchard and a shipment of booby-trapped food tins. Back at the Front could have been done just as well with Abbott and Costello--better, in fact. Watch in the closing scenes for David Janssen, playing a one-line bit as a rookie soldier. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Ewell, Harvey Lembeck, (more)
Edward Dmytryk's Back to Bataan stars John Wayne as Colonel Joe Madden. After General MacArthur decides to follow his order and leave the Philippines, Madden agrees to stay behind and organize an underground resistance movement. Anthony Quinn plays Andres Bonifacio, a captain who falls in love with a local woman (Fely Franquelli) who helps the army keep their rag-tag forces as organized as possible. Bonifacio must also deal with the pressure of being the grandson of a beloved Filipino leader. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Anthony Quinn, (more)
- 1943
Behind the Rising Sun is a rarity: a WW2 film with a handful of sympathetic Japanese characters. His eyes slanted by the RKO makeup department, Tom Neal plays Taro, the Americanized son of a Japanese diplomat (J. Carroll Naish). During the Sino-Japanese war, Taro's father insists that the boy leave the US and join the Japanese army. Indoctrinated in the "Banzai" mentality of the empirical government, Taro is transformed into an enemy of the West, going so far as to betray his best friend ly inebriated millionaire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Dining out at a Chinese restaurant, Samantha downs an exotic drink called "The Heavenly Himalayan," and as a result, her face breaks out in red stripes. Worse still, Sam loses all her powers, and the only antidote is the tail feather of the extinct dodo bird. The ensuing complications lead Sam and Darrin on a circuitous route, ending up in the same restaurant where it all began. Janos Prohaska, an "animal impersonator," whose repertoire included gorillas and bears, is here cast as an oversized and very surly dodo bird. Written by Leo Townsend, "Sam's Witchcraft Blows a Fuse" first aired on March 18, 1972. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick Sargent, (more)
- 1964
Hoping to purchase some fireworks from the Chinese Yiphee Trading Company, Hoss Cartwright gets his order scrambled, and as a result winds up with a "picture bride" named Tai Li (Marlo Thomas), aka Pink Cloud. Hardly the shy, retiring type, the feisty, outspoken Tai Li proceeds to make like miserable for Hoss, and also throws a monkey wrench in Virginia City's plans to build a railroad spur. The cast includes Benson Fong and Philip Ahn. Written by Lewis Clay, "A Pink Cloud Comes from Old Cathy" originally aired on April 12, 1964. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, (more)
- 1961
Sue Ling (Lisa Lu), a Chinese slave girl purchased by the infamous General Tsung (Richard Loo), is kidnapped and held for ransom by low-lifes Gordon (Mort Mills) and Barrett (Harry Lauter). But when Joe Cartwright plays poker with the two kidnappers, he unwittingly ends up with Sue Ling as his "winnings." Meanwhile, General Tsung and his minions cut a murderous swath through the region in search of the missing girl. Philip Ahn also appears in this episode as Kam Lee. Written by John T. Dugan, "Day of the Dragon" was originally telecast on December 3, 1961, directly opposite the controversial Bus Stop episode "A Lion Is in the Streets" (which got all the publicity but none of the ratings). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, (more)
- 1949
In this final episode of the Boston Blackie mystery series, our hero and his side-kick find themselves accused of murder after they are seen exiting a Chinese laundry where the proprietor is soon found murdered. Blackie must find the real killers before he gets in real trouble. Action and mystery ensue. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Morris, Joan Woodbury, (more)
- 1947
Alan Ladd stars in Calcutta as devil-may-care pilot Neale Gordon. With his equally fearless partners Pedro Blake (William Bendix) and Bill Cunningham (John Whitney), Gordon handles the air-freight route between Calcutta and Chungking. When Cunningham meets his death at the hands of jewel smugglers, Gordon vows to play judge and jury and bring the criminals to justice himself. Among the suspects are the film's two gorgeous leading ladies, sweetie-pie Virginia Moore (Gail Russell) and sultry nightclub singer Merina Tanev (June Duprez). Once Gordon figures out who his real friends are, he relies on his fists to mete out retribution, resulting in one sequence that's guaranteed to raise the hackles of every feminist in the crowd. Even with a short running time of 73 minutes, Calcutta secured top-of-the-bill bookings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Ladd, Gail Russell, (more)
Don Siegel directed this offbeat crime thriller which stars Walter Matthau as the titular Charley Varrick. Varrick is a small-time stick-up man who, in tandem with his partner Harman Sullivan (Andrew Robinson), makes plans to rob a small bank in New Mexico. Varrick and Sullivan are expecting a modest payday for a simple heist, but to their surprise they walk away with $750,000 in cash. But it turns out this isn't entirely good news; the bank was flush with cash because a number of well-connected Mafia chieftains have been using the bank to launder their ill-gotten gains, and they're determined to get their money back. Before Varrick can figure out a way to return the money, sadistic hired killer Molly (Joe Don Baker) is on his trail, forcing Varrick to outwit both the cops and the robbers if he is to stay alive.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Matthau, Joe Don Baker, (more)
- 1936
"Warner Oland vs. Boris Karloff" read the billing on the opening credits of Charlie Chan at the Opera. Karloff plays a once-famous opera star who has long been confined to an insane asylum. He escapes, ostensibly to seek revenge on the diva wife (Nedda Harrigan) who'd betrayed him years earlier. Karloff shows up during the performance of a new opera, and within minutes the murders start. Detective William Demarest figures the case is open and shut, but oriental sleuth Charlie Chan (Oland) is not thoroughly convinced of Karloff's guilt--nor is he certain that Boris is genuinely insane. To give away the ending would be churlish, but we can note that Charlotte Henry plays Karloff's daughter, who has been raised to believe that her father was dead. Considered by some Charlie Chan fans to be the best of the Warner Oland efforts, Charlie Chan at the Opera is distinguished by excellent production values, and by an original opera composed by Oscar Levant--who allegedly agreed to this assignment provided he could include the word "Silencio!" in his lyrics. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Warner Oland, Boris Karloff, (more)
- 1944
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Having ended its 11-year run at 20th Century-Fox, the "Charlie Chan" series set up shop at Monogram with the singularly uninspiring Charlie Chan in the Secret Service. Sidney Toler returns as the famed oriental detective, who, per the title, is now a government agent. His first assignment is to solve the murder of an inventor and recover the victim's secret plans. Two reels into the picture, all action grinds to a halt as Chan wearily interrogates the suspects. The identity of the murderer might have caught some filmgoers by surprise in 1944, but seasoned mystery fans will beon to the game the minute the culprit is introduced. The one saving grace of Charlie Chan in the Secret Service is the stereotypical but undeniably funny comedy relief of Mantan Moreland, making his first appearance as pop-eyed chauffeur Birmingham Brown. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Toler, Gwen Kenyon, (more)
Birmingham Brown joins pal Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) in solving this missing government documents mystery, set at a New York City radio station. Various media types are satirized in this unorthodox entry in the Monogram Pictures series. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- 1944
Pearl S. Buck's novel China Sky is boiled down to a wartime romantic triangle, courtesy of commercial-minded RKO. Randolph Scott and Ruth Warrick play American doctors in a remote Chinese village. The relationship is platonic, but Scott's spiteful wife Ellen Drew suspects hanky-panky. Despite these turgid soap-opera events, World War II has to be fought, and fought it is thanks to guerilla leader Anthony Quinn and insidious Japanese POW Richard Loo, who tries to win half-Japanese doctor Philip Ahn over to the Rising Sun. Halfway down the cast as "the goat" is Chinese juvenile actor Ducky Louie, who enjoyed a brief 1940s stardom in such films as China's Little Devils (1945) and Black Gold (1947), reteaming with Anthony Quinn in the latter film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Randolph Scott, Ruth Warrick, (more)
- 1949
Hurd Hatfield, star of MGM's lavish Picture of Dorian Gray (1944) finds himself in shabbier surroundings in Columbia's Chinatown at Midnight. Hatfield is cast as a homicidal thief Clifford Ward who picks no favorites when choosing his victims. The film is evenly divided between Ward's heinous activities and the methodical police investigation conducted by San Francisco police captain Howard Brown (Tom Powers). Columbia contractee Jean Willes plays a young innocent who is forced to accompany Ward during his escape, while Jacqueline de Wit is cast as the killer's foredoomed accomplice. Other performers on the premises include the always reliable Benson Fong and Victor Sen Yung. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hurd Hatfield, Jean Willes, (more)
George Pal's now-quaint science fiction odyssey concerns a multi-national group on the first space flight to Mars. Pal pulls out all stops in the special effects department, creating "The Wheel" (a earth-orbiting circular space station), rocket launches into space, and a breathtaking near-collision with an asteroid. The film itself concerns the travails of the crew of the spaceship as they make their way to Mars. General Samuel T. Merritt (Walter Brooke) heads the team. Supporting him and along for the ride are his son, Captain Barney Merritt (Eric Fleming), Sergeant Mahony (Mickey Shaughnessy), Jackie Siegle (Phil Foster), and Imoto (Benson Fong). As the ship gets closer to their Martian quest, General Merritt cracks and tries to sabotage both the mission and the crew, babbling about the blasphemy of mankind trespassing upon God's domain. His son is forced to kill him and save the mission, whereupon the crew peacefully lands on the Martian surface and scouts out the terrain like a group of sightseers at Lourdes before returning to Earth. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Brooke, Eric Fleming, (more)
- 1946
In this episode of the popular detective series, Chan learns that fake fingerprints have caused innocent people to go to prison. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1946
Deception is an operatic rehash of the 1929 film Jealousy. Music teacher Bette Davis--who evidently has a large student pool, judging by the size of her penthouse apartment--is reunited with her cellist lover Paul Henreid, whom she believed to have been killed in the war. Henreid wants to marry Davis, but he is unaware that she has, for the past several years, been the "protege" of composer Claude Rains. Rains agrees to keep quiet about his affair with Davis, but takes sadistic delight in tormenting the woman and working behind the scenes to sabotage Henreid's career. When Rains tells Bette of his plans to publicly humiliate Henreid, she shoots her ex-lover dead. Henreid agrees to stand by Davis no matter what is in store for her. Director Irving Rapper had originally wanted to treat the hoary plot twists of Deception comically, with the three principals walking off together at the end with a "what the hell?" attitude. He was tersely told to stick to the script; after all, people didn't pay to see Bette Davis but to see her suffer. Like the 1929 version of Jealousy, Deception was based on a play by Louis Verneuil. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, (more)
This lavish, 145-minute cinemadaptation of the Pearl Buck best-seller Dragon Seed was intended by MGM as a followup to the studio's successful film version of Buck's The Good Earth. In true Hollywood fashion, the Chinese protagonists are all played by Caucasian actors, with fascinating if not always convincing results. When a peaceful Chinese village is invaded by the Japanese prior to WW2, the men elect to adopt a peaceful, don't-rock-the-boat attitude towards their conquerors-and it is understood that the women will stoically acquiesce as well. But Jade (Katharine Hepburn), a headstrong young woman, intends to stand up to the Japanese whether her husband Lao Er (Turhan Bey) approves or not. She even goes so far as to learn to read and to handle a weapon, so that she may properly equipped for both psychological and physical combat. Jade's attitude spreads to the rest of the village, convincing even the staunchest of male traditional that the Japanese can be defeated only by offering a strong united front-male and female. Alas, there are a few Quislings in their midst, notably avaricious merchant Wu Lien (Akim Tamiroff), who learns all too late the terrible cost of collaboration. While it seems odd to see so many non-Orientals-Walter Huston, Agnes Moorehead, Hurd Hatfield, J. Carroll Naish-in the major roles, Dragon Seed manages to retain its power and entertainment value even 50 years after the fact (Incidentally, there are a few genuine Chinese in the cast-most of them playing Japanese!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Katharine Hepburn, Walter Huston, (more)
- 1954
Dragonfly Squadron is set in 1950 in the months before the beginning of the Korean War. John Hodiak stars as Major Mathew Brady, assigned to the base at Kongju to train South Korean troops for possible combat. These troops are to be used to protect civilians in the event of an evacuation, thus Brady is obliged to run them ragged in order to transform them into a lean, mean fighting machine. Despite the gravity of his job, Brady manages to find time to romance Donna Cottrell (Barbara Britton), the wife of an American doctor (Bruce Bennett). The Casablanca aspects of this triangle are the only forgettable aspects of this taut and timely adventure yarn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Hodiak, Barbara Britton, (more)
- 1970
In his third Family Affair guest appearance, Benson Fong plays restaurant owner Eng Ho, an old friend of Bill Davis (Brian Keith). About to enter into an arranged marriage with a girl from Hong Kong named Ming Lee (Irene Tsu), Eng Ho asks Bill to let the girl stay with the Davis family until the wedding. This nearly sets off an international incident as Ming Lee not only becomes "westernized" in record time, but also falls in love with her escort, Mike Wong (Brian Fong). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Benson Fong makes a return appearance to Family Affair, this time in the role of Ng Ho, Bill's houseboy during a business trip to Hong Kong. Impressed by Ng Ho's courtesy and efficiency, Bill (Brian Keith) invites the man to visit him in New York. Ng Ho voluntarily takes on so many household duties in the Davis household, and performs them so well, that he rouses the ire of Mr. French (Sebastian Cabot), prompting the blustering butler to serve notice! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1968
Keye Luke guest stars as Grandfather Chang, a venerable Chinese gentleman whose interest in life is renewed by his friendship with twins Buffy (Anissa Jones) and Jody (Johnnie Whitaker). Unofficially "adopted" by Mr. Chang, the kids reciprocate by adopting Chinese behavior and customs--or at least they make a noble effort. This episode boasts a stellar cast of Asian character actors, notably Keye Luke and Benson Fong, who'd previously appeared in the "Charlie Chan" films as Lee and Tommy Chan respectively, and who would later essay recurring roles on the existential TV western Kung Fu. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1945
This WW II drama is the first to deal with the fateful atomic bomb attack on Japan. Originally, the film centered on the acquisition of a new kind of gun, but as it was in production during the time the Bomb was dropped, the producers were quick to change the story to suit the times. It tells the story of a straight-arrow American pilot who was raised in Japan and is asked to return there to get a captured scientist to garner valuable information about the A-bomb. The pilot, Major Ross, realizes that he will not survive the mission, but as he has just lost his lover, he cares little for life. Before he goes, his face is surgically altered so he looks Japanese and he then infiltrates the camp where the scientist is being held. There he finds his girl friend, an army nurse, who has also been captured. Unfortunately, she has fallen in love with a fellow inmate. The determined Major Ross remains focused and completes his mission, but not before encountering considerable danger at the hands of enemy officers. The end of the film features actual newsreel footage of nuclear bombings from Pathe. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Hale, Richard Loo, (more)
- 1959
The celebrated author of 1975's Shogun, James Clavell, directs (and produced and wrote) this effective, if low-budget World War II drama. The story takes place in French Indochina (later Vietnam) where a group of two Red Cross doctors and seven nurses are captured by a guerrilla band and taken to the side of a grievously ill warlord. The realities of war and its effects on everyone are brought forward as the doctors are eventually killed, and the nurses use sex as a means of escaping their captors. Brutal scenes of the stabbing of a patient under surgery and the symbolic murder of a nun are qualified by the even-handed portrayal of the damage war does to the human side of human nature. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Neville Brand, Benson Fong, (more)
