Anna May Wong Movies

Joe is played by Leslie Randall in this lean British programmer. Working at a detergent company, Joe is ignored by his bosses and co-workers alike. But when the opportunity arises for Joe to become a hero, well, watch out! Motivating the plot is a bit of industrial espionage involving the theft of a secret detergent formula. Of interest in Just Joe is the supporting-cast presence of veteran film star Anna May Wong and future Doctor Who Jon Pertwee. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Though he doesn't know it at first, industrialist Walter Williams (Brian Donlevy) shouldn't trust his wife Irene (Helen Walker) any farther than he can throw her. Irene schemes with her lover Jim Torrance (Tony Barrett) to kill Walter in an "accidental" car crash. The plan fails, and it is Jim who is killed. When it develops that he is assumed to have also died in the accident, Walter changes his name and heads to a small town where no one knows him. Here he starts life all over again as a humble garage mechanic, falling in love with his boss Marsha Peters (Ella Raines) in the process. Disaster looms when detective Quincy (Charles Coburn) comes sniffing around; it seems that Lt. Quincy suspects the incognito Williams of murdering Torrance. To reveal any more would be giving the game away. Impact co-stars longtime favorite Anna May Wong, making her first screen appearance since 1942. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Of the two PRC Anna May Wong vehicles filmed during the 1942-43 season, Bombs Over Burma is marginally the best, thanks to the cinematic savvy of writer-director Joseph H. Lewis. Relying more on strong visuals than clever dialogue, the film details the contributions of the courageous Chinese guerilla fighters in keeping the Burma Road safe for Allied transport vehicles during WW2. During the arduous construction of the serpentine thoroughfare, a number of Chinese workers are killed by a mysterious saboteur. It turns out that the assailant is English nobleman Sir Roger Howe (Leslie Denison), who is actually a Nazi agent. Chinese schoolteacher Lin Yung (Anna May Wong) is the freedom fighter responsible for the unmasking and ultimate destruction of the duplicitous Sir Roger (the villain's death scene is the film's hands-down highlight). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Akim Tamiroff plays the title role, an underworld leader who controls all illicit operations in Chinatown. Tamiroff is toppled from power by two members of his own mob (Anthony Quinn and J.Carroll Naish). He is left for dead, but is saved by a dedicated Chinese-American doctor (Anna May Wong). In gratitude, Tamiroff turns over his fortune to a Chinese war relief fund. King of Gamblers was directed with flair by the otherwise unimaginative Nick Grinde, who seems to have borrowed several artistic touches from fellow Paramount contractee Robert Florey. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Astrology and murder meet head-on in the Warner Bros. programmer When Were You Born? When horoscope specialist Mary Lee Liang (Anna May Wong) predicts the death of importer Philip Corey (James Stephenson), her prophecy comes true in a surprisingly short time thanks to a mysterious killer. Mary then assists the police in their investigation of Corey's murder, using her knowledge of the zodiac to draw up a psychological profile of the culprit. Could the guilty party be Nina Kenton (Lola Lane), the dead man's sweetheart? Is it Fred Gow (Leonard Mudie), Corey's duplicitous partner? Or maybe it's Doris Kane (Margaret Lindsay), who halfway through the proceedings is revealed to be the victim's secret fiancee. The most novel aspect of When Were You Born? is its opening credits sequence, wherein the actors are billed in the order of their astrological signs rather than their importance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Anna May Wong, who cornered the 1930s market in Eurasian heroines, stars in Daughter of Shanghai. Wong is on the trail of the criminals who murdered her father. The villains are running an illegal-alien operation, smuggling cheap Chinese and Mexican labor into San Francisco and killing those unlucky souls who prove "inconvenient". Wong takes a job as an exotic dancer in a Central American nitery, hoping to trap the murderers in the act. Though J. Carroll Naish and Buster Crabbe are top-billed, the actual hero of Daughter of Shanghai is Chinese actor Philip Ahn, playing an FBI agent protecting Wong from the bad guys. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The timeworn British stage musical Chu Chin Chow had already been made into a silent picture when this talkie version made its bow in 1934. Based on Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, the film stars corpulent music-hall comedian George Robey as Ali Baba, sinister Fritz Kortner as robber captain Abu Hahan, and exotic Anna May Wong as slave girl Zahrat, who saves Ali's life by properly applying oil to a collection of not-so-empty barrels. The obligatory romantic subplot is handled by John Garrick and Pearl Argyle, while comedy relief is supplied by a vaudevillian named Jetsam (that's right, of the team of "Flotsam and...") Director Walter Forde does little to "cinematize" the old property, which is just as well. Originally released at 93 minutes, Chu Chin Chow was shorn of about 5 minutes before its American release; presumably some of the sexier "nautch" dances were among the excised scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Sherlock Holmes and Watson solve a puzzling case in which a bloody foreign word is found beside a murder victim. The plot has little to do with author Doyle's original story of the same name. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

"It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily," purrs Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express. She certainly has her well-manicured hands full with more men than she can count in this exotic far-Eastern adventure. Among her fellow passengers on the Shanghai Express are her disillusioned former fiance, stalwart British medical corps officer Clive Brook; overfervent missionary Lawrence Grant; dope smuggler Gustav von Seyffertitz; and mysterious Eurasian businessman Warner Oland. As the train chugs through the more treacherous passages of war-torn China, Oland reveals himself as the leader of a rebel group, who plans to hold the passengers hostage to secure the release of his imprisoned followers. In Boule de Suif fashion, Dietrich, who is a notorious "Chinese coaster" but who has remained sexually aloof throughout the trip, gives herself to Oland to save the life of Brook, the man she truly loves. Directed by Josef von Sternberg at his most orgiastic (love those long, lingering dissolves!), Shanghai Express is 80% style and 20% substance, as proven by two less stylish remakes, Night Plane to Chungking and Peking Express. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Chinese-American film favorite Anna May Wong stars in the British meller Wasted Love. The fragile-looking Wong plays a "beach waif" who becomes the romantic bone of contention between two roughnecks. Both men battle over the honor of bedding the reluctant heroine, but in the end she is rescued by a slightly more virtuous third party. A bit too raw for American tastes, Wasted Love was severely trimmed before its U.S. premiere. A silent film, it was fitted out with a synchronized musical track, which was marginally more subtle than the blood-and-thunder storyline. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Just before making his talkie directorial debut with Atlantic, director E.A. DuPont dashed off the silent "backstage" drama Piccadilly. By the time the film was released in 1929, talking pictures had taken a firm hold of the British film industry, obliging DuPont to reshoot much of the picture with dialogue. American screen favorites Anna May Wong and Gilda Gray (the girl who popularized the "shimmy dance") head the cast, the former as Shosho, a dishwasher in the London nightclub where the latter, cast as dancer Mabel Greenfield, performs nightly. Jealous of Mabel's dancing partner Victor Smiles (Cyril Ritchard), club owner Wilmot (Jameson Thomas) fires Victor, whereupon business drops off dramatically. In desperation, Wilmot takes Shosho out of the kitchen and puts her on stage, where she scores a big success. Feeling threatened by Shosho, Mabel heads to her rival's apartment with blood in her eye. A shot rings out, Shosho falls dead, and Mabel is accused of murder. But during the trial, it turns out that Shosho was done in by her Chinese sweetheart Jim (Kim Ho Chang). In his first feature film appearance, Charles Laughton performs an outrageous bit as a rowdy night club patron; also seen in a minuscule role is young Ray Milland. The talkie version of Piccadilly wasn't released in the U.S. until 1932. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi