Chinatown Nights

"Chinatown Nights" (1929) from its title sounds as if it's going to be an early "B" meller with grade "Z" actors and the host of Hollywood Chinese and Japanese who played extras in "yellow peril" films which proliferated between 1915-1940. Well, it is about tong wars, and it's certainly a meller, but this happens to be a transition film (between silent and sound) that comes with loads of baggage, was directed by William A. Wellman, stars Wallace Beery, Florence Vidor, and Warner Oland (with many others), began as a finished silent, was both re-shot in many parts and dubbed in most others, goat-glanded in a spot or two (very little remains of any of that), and ends up being photographically brilliant - an early film-noir is not incorrect - and not only quite watchable, but invitingly so - and, in the end, good movie-making! But, this will bulge out your eyeballs: Wallace Beery plays a romantic part, and not only does it well, it may be about the best Wallace Beery acting I've ever seen. He's tremendous! None of the eye mugging or voice tricks he uses ubiquitously in most of his talkies. None! He's actually quite clean looking, slimmer than usual, half-way good looking, well-groomed. Florence Vidor (who's always good looking, and here ravishingly dressed) works nearly as well, except in a few scenes that began with her acting the silent parts, but the sound was dubbed by Nella Walker when Vidor wouldn't come back and dub her scenes. (Sound like Louise Brooks a bit??!!) Vidor retired after making this film...okay... Warner Oland is a bit more jaunty than usual. Not until his voice jauntiness and jaunty words in the Chan movies is he this...jaunty...

The film begins on an incredulous note: the leader in Chinatown (USA) is a white man: Beery. Because of arranged hits - by both sides - Beery decides to even the score, this, while Oland is deciding to decide the score in his favor for good. Meanwhile, a very bored uptown girl, Vidor, comes to Chinatown to see how the other poor/wild/Chinese half lives. She comes as a murder is committed before her eyes, meets Beery, becomes more than intrigued, eventually falls in love with him, moves in with him (yes, this is a Pre-Code's Pre-Code and doesn't leave anything out!), sees she can't stay because "it'll never work out", gets let go (so to speak), becomes amazed that she can't go because she truly loves Beery, becomes disenchanted with the life Beery leads, gets thrown out, becomes almost a bum(messe?), tries to drink herself silly, becomes sick, nearly dies - but I won't let you know the ending. Suffice it to say the ending nearly seems tacked on. It's not a disappointment as much as it is...well, no, I won't say. You watch.

Beery is amazing in this film. Vidor's a pleasure to watch, though some of the dubbing is wobbly where she's dubbed. Oland is always fine. The rest of the cast, especially Jack McHugh who plays The Shadow, is really great. But why shouldn't it be? It includes Jack Oakie as a stuttering news-news-news-newspaper m-m-man, Tetsu Komai as Beery's watch-out guy, Richard Cramer, Willie Fung, Broderick O'Farrell, Bess Flowers (with a line or two!), and others who play flawlessly. One other thing shows up here: a lot of very violent scenes. One in particular is heartbreaking. None of the violence is grade "D" exploitation, either; it's very real and it's very much a part of the plot and it's strikingly well done.

A real find, not perfect, but a joy to watch anyway. If you're a Wellman fan, you'll see some precursors to things he did two years later in "The Public Enemy" and some things he'd already done in "Wings" a year or two previously. He has a very masculine directing style, and he's very sure of his direction and editing. It shows. Recommended!

This film begins with a bored socialite named "Joan Fry" (Florence Vidor) deciding at the last minute to take a tour bus to Chinatown late at night. Along the way the bus happens to venture into a street war between two rival tongs and is temporarily blocked by a dead body. Upon getting out to take a closer look, Joan deliberately stays behind in order to satisfy her craving for excitement. Having done so, however, has put her into a difficult situation because there are no more taxis running this late at night. Recognizing the danger she is in, a white man by the name of "Chuck Riley" (Wallace Beery) forcibly carries her into his apartment where she will be safe for the night. It is then revealed that Chuck Riley just happens to be the leader of one of the most powerful tongs in Chinatown and his war with his rival "Boston Charley" (Warner Oland) is about to get extremely brutal. Not only that, but as she spends more time with Chuck Riley, she soon finds herself falling in love with him as well. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film initially started out as a silent film but was converted into a "talkie" along the way. To that effect, there are clearly some scenes which have retained elements of the silent film version here and there. Along with that, from what I understand, some of the voices were dubbed over after the film was initially made and this is reflected by the rather poor audio. Likewise, the picture quality isn't that good either. But that's to be expected in an old movie like this. That being said, I believe that in order to enjoy this film the viewer will have to make certain allowances--as it clearly isn't up to today's standards. Be that as it may, I liked this film for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Filming of Chinatown Nights as a silent was one-third completed when production was stopped to adapt it to sound. Four days later, dialogue had been written and filming resumed. In the Movietone version that survives, the retained silent sequences sometimes jarringly remind the viewer that the silent cinema was a totally different art form. Over-emoted scenes are dubbed and the result is risable. Indeed, Florence Vidor quit the talkies immediately upon the completion of principle photography and her dubbing is handled by an actress who manages to inject a tremmello into every syllable. However, when the new footage takes over, the film paces itself well. The love story plays true and the Chinese Theatre set piece is rousing. Wellman keeps the camera moving. If you enjoy seeing the birth of a new art form, then you might not mind the man with the megaphone's sloppy looping. His voice will still bark even when the cone goes to his side. And did I mention Warner Oland plays an evil Oriental? Recommended.

In Chinatown there are two competing Tongs at war. One is controlled by Warner Oland. The other by Irish Wallace Beery. Beery is about to eliminate Oland when he is distracted by uptown beauty Florence Vidor.

It doesn't work very well, a common issue of talkie movies in 1929, when the novel mysteries of where to put the microphones and how to get people to stand still around them was a major drag, as well as how to dampen the sounds of the whirring cameras. These are not the issues of this movie. This movie was shot as a silent movie, and then everyone came back later to record their lines -- except for Mrs. Vidor, who refused. Her movie career ended, and Nella Walker spoke her lines. No, this movie doesn't work because of its stop-and-start pacing, caused by some scenes being dialogue scenes that move at one rate, and others being silent scenes, which move at another. Imagine it as a silent movie and it works very well. But as it is, not at all.