Herr Wu

Good entertaining film but as a viewer I completely lost sympathy with the Lon Chaney character after the way he treated his servant for simply reporting a fact. The removal of that scene would make the picture much better. Louise Dresser is great, especially in the last Pre-Code scene which would never had been allowed during the Breen era after 1934. It is made plain that the mother has to choose between her son being executed or she can save his life by allowing her daughter to be raped. Truly shocking for a 1927 film. Ralph Forbes (who plays as Louise Dresser's son) is quite handsome and effective as the love interest. Renée Adorée is OK as the daughter of Mr. Wu but hardly looks flattering in her makeup and costume. Anna May Wong (who is wasted in a servant part) is clearly more attractive and should have gotten the part.

Film is also hampered with silly ideas about the Chinese as if they blindly adhere to traditional laws in all circumstances. It is very hard to take that premise seriously. Holmes Herbert's boorish uncultured character is also rather offensive.

Ancient Chinese custom gets the best of star Lon Chaney in this re-make of 1919's melodramatic "Mr. Wu". Mr. Chaney portrays both Mr. Wu; and, in an extended prologue, he's Mr. Wu's grandfather. Chaney is, as ever, wildly entertaining. The film is well-produced, with beautiful photography and sets; with, for its time, a starry supporting cast. The main story doesn't get started until Chaney struts his oriental stuff; it involves daughter Renée Adorée (as Nang Ping) having an out-of-her-race affair with Englishman Ralph Forbes (as Basil Gregory).

Mr. Forbes plays the Englishman enchanted by a lovely "China doll" well. Ms. Adorée is not as convincing in her Asian role; certainly, supporting player Anna May Wong would have been better cast as Wu's daughter. Louise Dresser (as Mrs. Gregory) is quite excellent as Forbes' mother; at first, her role seems small - but, keep your eyes on Ms. Dresser, who turns in a great performance without extraordinary make-up! Chinese culture is not presented very flatteringly, to Western filmgoers, in the end. Chaney (as Wu)'s declaration, "My poor little blossom - broken by an ill West Wind," evokes D.W. Griffith's superior "Broken Blossoms" (1919), which more artfully covered some of the same ground.

******* Mr. Wu (3/26/27) William Nigh ~ Lon Chaney, Louise Dresser, Renée Adorée

In this weighted telling of the clash of two cultures Lon Chaney gives two magnificent portrayals of a Chinese Patriarch and his son bound to an ancient Cantonese Tradition regarding honor. The problem is the story pitting American mother Courage against ancient, outmoded bloodthirsty and sadistic Chinese tradition. In spite of its blatant bias Chaney brings to both elder and younger. admirable qualities with a certain dignity.

Raised by a strict grandfather Wu is determined to keep the Chinese tradition of choosing his daughter's husband to be sight unseen. She rebels when she meets a Britisher who in a nice touch has to climb over a wall to meet her. They get serious she dishonors the family, she must die. And that's not all.

With the Chinese Exclusion Act in place until 1943 one might see how easy it was to make one culture look so good and one so hostile. It's handsomely designed safely composed in favor of Chaney's beautifully nuanced and restrained performances while Rene Adoree as Wu's daughter Nang Ping seems contrived in comparison to Anna Mae Wong in a supporting role who would have brought so much more to the lead.

Even with it's blatant xenophobic thrust Mr. Wu is a fascinating document for the times of social acceptance. Just as much is to be said for the artistry of Mr. Chaney.

No, not a great silent film, but nearly so and still an absorbing and entertaining 90 minutes in which to wallow in yet another great Lon Chaney performance. And with some high MGM production values, I almost wished some of Cedric Gibbons' garden scenes could have been shot in Technicolor, although the b&w nitrate print is pristine and atmospheric.

Simple tale expertly unfolded: Honourable Mandarin Mr. Wu's beautiful daughter Nang Ping falls in love with heavily made up Englishman Ralph Forbes with the usual tragic biological consequences. Worthy of University dissertations is the portrayal of both East and West as hamstrung by racist social customs and conventions, real and fictional. It persists today: some people are simultaneously hamstrung by the fact that miscegenation can be frowned upon in certain backward quarters but paradoxically also that a member of one race can act the part of another on film and stage. Mr. Wu is shown to be the then usual Chinese stereotype with inscrutable savagery masked with a veneer of (Western) inculcated civilisation, but a real Chinese would have had to have played it the same as Chaney: it was merely the custom after all. And the whites were also shown to be usual Western stereotypes in a foreign country with condescension and arrogance mixed with ingenuousness. Anna May Wong is here in another good role as sidekick to the unfortunate heroine, whilst Holmes Herbert had a few patronising scenes and never looked older. The climax to the affair is striking - if remade today I'd expect a somewhat different conclusion to mull over!

All in all well worth watching for enlightened silent melodrama fans.

Mr. Wu (1927)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Lon Chaney plays a duel role as Mr. Wu and his grandfather. In the film, Mr. Wu (Chaney) believes in an old Chinese custom of marrying his daughter (Renee Adoree) into another Chinese family but the girl has fallen in love with an Englishman (Ralph Forbes). When the Englishman leaves the girl, Wu must seek revenge by killing the man, his family and his own daughter. For the first seventy-minutes this is a love story between the two kids with the vengeance aspect just showing up for the final twenty. Overall I was pretty disappointed with the film, although there's some good stuff in it. I think this is one of the weakest performances from Chaney that I've seen because he seems to forget the performance in exchange for the brilliant make up. Chaney's make up effects as the grandfather are simply marvelous and you can't even tell that it's Chaney under all that make up. Adoree comes off very well bringing an innocence that's easy to connect with. Forbes is also very good in his role and the supporting players are nice as well. I think the film would have benefited with a tighter script that kept the action moving better because the middle of the film is rather dull with not too much going on. Had this middle section been as entertaining as the first and third acts then the movie would be much more memorable. As it is, this movie is mainly watchable due to the great make up work from Chaney.