James B. Leong Movies

This odd program drama seemed out of pace with the Roaring Twenties, and is only redeemed by its excellent cast. The Southern California coast made an adequate backdrop for the story, which was supposed to take place in San Francisco. Michelo Bresca (Josef Swickard), an old Italian-American man, has grown discouraged with life. In great despair, he throws his daughter, Lucia (Renée Adorée), into the sea, and plans to do the same with himself. Lucia is saved when she falls into a fisherman's boat, but is kidnapped by Francisco (Buddy Post) and taken to the headquarters of Dr. Chong Foo (James B. Leong), who smuggles illegal Chinese immigrants into the U.S. Foo's partner is artist Pietro Savori (Lew Cody), who uses his studio as a front. The men all fight each other for Lucia's favors, and Dr. Foo murders Savori. But Luigi Bevani (Dick Sutherland) rescues Lucia and returns her to Guido, her sweetheart. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This comedy classic is the sound-film debut of enormously popular and brilliant silent comedian Harold Lloyd. He plays a gentle botany student who must reluctantly succeed his father as chief of police. He does a good job and ends up busting up a ring of drug dealers led by the enigmatic "Dragon." Later he discovers that the Dragon is really one of the most prominent and highly respected men in town. When not chasing bad-guys, the hero falls in love with a woman who has disguised herself as boy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Hatchet Man is a dated but fascinating film set amidst the "tong wars" in San Francisco's Chinatown. Tong hatchet man Wong Low Get (Edward G. Robinson) is required to kill his boyhood friend Sun Yet Sen (J. Carroll Naish). Sen is resigned to his fate, but extracts a promise that Wong will look after Sen's daughter Toya San, and marry the girl when she grows up. Played as an adult by Loretta Young, Toya San weds Wong, now an influential Chinatown figure. But the girl is secretly in love with Harry En Hai (Leslie Fenton), a disreputable young half-caste. When Wong learns of the affair, he sends Toya and Harry packing, and is ostracized by the community for not fighting for his honor. Harry is deported to China for drug-dealing, taking Toya with him and ultimately deserting her. Wong trails the pair to China, where he finds that Toya has been sold into prostitution. He intends to use his hatchet to kill Harry, but is talked out of the murder by Toya. But before Wong and Toya leave for America, Harry En Hai accidentally receives his comeuppance from the one-time "hatchet man." Well acted and powerfully directed, Hatchet Man would hardly qualify as "politically correct" these days, since virtually every Asian character is portrayed by a Caucasian. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Produced at the little Tec Art studio by sound engineer Ralph M. Like, this film is one of those modest whodunits where the lights go out and someone inevitably gets hit over the head with a blunt instrument. This time, the crew and passengers from a Los Angeles-bound plane seek shelter from the fog in a deserted yet fully furnished farm house. As it turns out, one of the passengers (William P. Burt) is carrying diamonds worth $500,000 and is killed during one of the blackouts. Insurance investigator Sidney Bracey attempts to catch the killer before he strikes again, and with the assistance of the plane's captain, Gene Morgan, and elderly passenger Ethel Wales, he manages to unmask the surprising culprit. Aside from being practically devoid of the obnoxious "humor" that often makes this kind of hoary melodrama tough viewing for a modern audience, Tangled Destinies offers generally fine performances from an ensemble cast of B-movie veterans and better than average production values. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Hoping to immediately cash in on its blockbuster hit King Kong (1933). RKO Radio commissioned producers Willis O'Brien and Ernest B. Schoedsack to hastily slap together a sequel. Son of Kong begins where King Kong left off, with foolhardy entrepreneur Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) facing hundreds of thousands dollars in lawsuits from the damages inflicted by the mighty Kong on the city of New York (remember?) Denham's partner Captain Englehorn (Frank Reicher) suggests that they escape to Malaya, where they make the acquaintance of Hilda (Helen Mack), the daughter of drink-besotted circus-owner Peterson (Clarence Wilson). When her father is killed in a fire caused by Norwegian sea captain Helstrom (John Marston), Hilda is comforted by Denham, who has taken a liking to the unfortunate girl. It turns out that Helstrom was the sailor who sold Denham the map to Skull Island, where King Kong once ruled unchecked. Hoping to escape prosecution for the fatal fire, Hellstrom claims that there's a fabulous treasure buried somewhere on Skull Island and offers to lead Denham and Englehorn back to the Pacific flyspeck. With no place else to go, Hilda stows away on Englehorn's boat and joins the expedition. After an unpleasant confrontation with the natives whom Kong trampled and chewed up in the earlier film, Denham and Hilda explore another part of the Island -- and there they find Little Kong, a 12-foot-high white gorilla who is as lovable as his "old man" was nasty. As the treacherous Hellstrom meets his doom elsewhere on the island, cute Little Kong protects his new friends Denham and Hilda from a variety of marauding dinosaurs, ultimately sacrificing his own life to save the human hero and heroine from a native war party. Largely played for laughs (at one point Little Kong makes an "Oy vey" gesture, as the soundtrack plays a snatch of a Jewish dance!), Son of Kong is nowhere near the classic stature of its illustrious predecessor. On the other hand, the stop-motion photography is quite impressive, at times even better than the animation seen in the original King Kong. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The official cast list of Warner Bros. Mandalay states that Kay Francis plays a character named Tanya. For most of the film, however, the heroine -- if she can be called that -- goes by the name of Spot White (or "Spot Cash," as she's cynically designated by one of the lesser characters). Betrayed by her smuggler lover Tony Evans (Ricardo Cortez), Tanya/Spot White becomes one of white slaver Nick's (Warner Oland) stable of girls in old Rangoon. She eventually escapes this sordid lifestyle, and is later instrumental in the redemption of dissolute doctor Gregory Burton (Lyle Talbot). Falling in love with Burton, Spot White resorts to drastic measure to purge the ubiquitous Tony Evans from her life. Most sources list Shirley Temple in the cast as "Betty," but her role has apparently been excised from the currently available prints of Mandalay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tarzan, "The Police Dog," stars in this ultra low-budget thriller from independent producer Bert Sternbach. The human leads, Marion Shilling and Charles Delaney, play reporters assigned to cover the wedding between members of warring Tong families. Expected to end generations of feud between the Lings and the Wongs, the nuptials turn into tragedy when a mystery intruder clad in Ling family attire valuable snatches the necklace from the bride. As the groom (Wing Foo) attempts to stop the fleeing thief, he is brutally shot and killed and his father calls for the feud to continue. Meanwhile, cub reporter Ann Parker (Shilling) is kidnapped by the murderer (Paul Ellis), who thinks she may be able to identify him. But Tarzan, the police dog, races to the rescue with Bob Martin (Delaney) in tow and the killer is unmasked in the nick of time. The Lings are cleared of suspicion and peace between the families is restored. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Ostensibly based on the life of World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, whose smiling visage opened each of the 13 chapters, this fanciful serial depicted the travails of a globe trotting airline company. It seems that a villain known only as The Dragon (Arthur Loft) is determined to sabotage the company, who in desperation hires daredevil pilot Ace Drummond (John King) to investigate. By the time of the serial's 13th and final chapter -- "The World Akin" -- Drummond has not only managed to destroy The Dragon but also reunited lovely Peggy Trainor (Jean Rogers) with her long lost father (Montagu Shaw) and discovered a hidden mountain containing a fortune in jade. A former band singer with Ben Bernie, the rather bland John King later became "Dusty" King and enjoyed a minor career in B-Westerns. A legendary serial queen, blonde Jean Rogers gained her lasting reputation that same year when Universal cast her as Dale Arden in Flash Gordon. An edited feature version of Ace Drummond was released later in 1936 as Squadron of Doom. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this drama, the third remake of a popular play by Porter Emerson Browne, General Wu Yen Fang, "the White Tiger," is an outlaw general who controls the bulk of northern China. The story begins as he invades the village in which two fighters work to prevent avaricious Americans from foreclosing on their oil interests. The lover of one of these men is romantically involved with the estranged wife of one of the foreclosers. Because he once saved Gen. Wu's life, the officer returns the favor by killing the evil oil man. This causes the government to sentence the general to death. He willingly sacrifices his life and is at peace knowing that his friend can now marry the woman he loves. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Released by Monogram in 1937, Shadows of the Orient was actually produced independently several years earlier by Larry Darmour. Arrested in a raid on a Chinese gambling joint, judge's daughter Viola Avery (Esther Ralston) is rescued from disgrace by King Moss (Sidney Blackmer), owner of the establishment. In return, Moss expects Viola to string along with him romantically, and to help him with his busy alien-smuggling racket. But stalwart immigration inspector Baxter (Regis Toomey), himself in love with Viola, puts an end to Moss' activities for good. The fact that Shadows of the Orient was three to four years old when it came off the shelf was obvious in its tatty production values and antiquated costumes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this fourth of 20th Century-Fox's "Mr. Moto" series, a beautiful young aviatrix (Rochelle Hudson) on a secret diplomatic mission crash-lands in a remote Indochinese jungle province ruled by a despotic potentate (J. Edward Bromberg). Japanese adventurer Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) is in the vicinity on an archeological expedition, while two hotshot American newsreel cameramen (Robert Kent, Chick Chandler) also stumble upon the scene. The aviatrix tries to get the potentate to help quell an insurrection led by a maniacal high priest (George Regas), but it turns out that the duplicitous ruler is in on the rebellion as a means of increasing his own wealth and power. Moto takes charge by posing as the high priest; he rescues the aviatrix and the newsreel men, vanquishes the villains and destroys a munitions site. And all this in 63 minutes! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide