Bombs Over Burma

Some B movies transcend, others lower themselves into the "so bad t's funny' category. But most fall into the general category of 'good B-movie" - entertaining but forgettable.

This film can be enjoyed as a good B-movie, If one doesn't know much of film history, there it ends - a solid B- movie from the early '40s.

But pay attention! I've watched this film several times - it's actually difficult to watch, the scene where the young boy gets wasted by Japanese machine gun fire is not fun. But the images keep pulling me along.

This is a great film, for two reasons. First, director Lewis, cinematographer Cline and editor Henkel are using the film to work out knowledge of film history that more mainstream studios would not have allowed then - Sergei Eisentein's influence is all over the film.

Secondly, Anna May Wong - a great actress relegated to small parts as the 'sultry Asian' - she is truly magnificent here, this performance would have won an Oscar for any other actress at a later time.

Yes it's still a B-movie plot and much of the dialog has to conform to that. But so much of this is rich in construction and detail that I insist it remains a classic - unrecognized but undeniable.

Anna May Wong is a Chinese school teacher Lin Yang, who is also a spy for the "good guys" during WW II. She is traveling with an international group, who must discover who is leaking information to the Japanese bombers. The story is pretty good, but the sound quality is poor in parts of the film, with quite a bit of static in the soundtrack. Also lots of stock wartime footage thrown in. I was quite impressed at how the women could keep their hair and makeup just perfect on this long, hard roadtrip. Leslie Denison ( Roger Howe ) was a busy guy in those days - made 12 films in 1942, and 14 in 1943, in large and small roles. Wong had just made Lady from Chunking, the year before, another Alexander/Stern production about wartime China. Astute viewers will recognize the large, annoying Dan Seymour (Brogranza), who had played Captain Renard in To Have and Have Not. Too bad they didn't give him a larger role in this film - might have helped spruce it up. Connie Leon, who was actually British, provides the only laughs as the Chinese customs agent who taunts each person in the group as they are questioned when leaving town. This was just the third film for Ned Young (Slim Jenkins), and only the second credited role for lovely blonde Teala Loring, who seems to be the daughter of Doctor somebody or other, going to Chunking to check on him. Entertaining film, quite short at 65 minutes. It was a little odd... in the credits for the film, they use the PRC symbol for "producers releasing corp", but that's also the abbreviation for "Peoples Republic of China"...

Anna May Wong (Lin) is a schoolteacher assigned on a mission by the Chinese Resistance to discover who is tipping off the Japanese for bombing raids. Targets seem to be pinpointed with expert knowledge. On a bus journey, Wong and a cast of characters are held up at a monastery where it becomes obvious that the traitor is among them.

This film has a couple of memorable sequences – the beginning section at the school and the end section at the head of the convoy – that make it a better film than I had expected. There is also some humour thrown in from the naughty schoolboy. My wife and I laughed out loud when he is left in the classroom alone to throw all the schoolwork everywhere. He also has a funny moment where he knows he is wrong and gets up and puts on the naughty hat without any prompting. Very funny.

Unfortunately, the sound quality is poor and this does interfere with some of the dialogue but overall, given the different subject matter, it has to score for novelty value. It's a short film and it's OK entertainment while it lasts.

A good, tense story and Anna May Wong's leading performance more than make up for this World War II feature's cheapish production and low-budget look. The story is interesting in itself, and it also serves the purpose of illuminating a vital but little-remembered aspect of the world war. Wong also gets support from some of the other cast members, although most of them are well below her stature as a performer.

The setup has Wong as a schoolteacher who is helping to keep the Burma Road supply line open, despite enemy raids and other problems. The main part of the movie comes when she and a bus load of fellow passengers are stuck in a remote monastery along the supply line, as it becomes increasingly clear that one of their little group is a traitor who is tipping off the Japanese Air Force so that they can destroy the supply convoys.

The story is told effectively, and even the low-budget look often actually aids in setting the atmosphere. The suspense is maintained rather well for an extended time, and the story keeps you guessing as long as possible as to just how things will turn out.

The down side includes the dialogue, which is not nearly as good as the story, and some of the flat supporting performances. Dan Seymour is an exception, in a smaller role as the kind of lowlife that he always portrayed convincingly. As Sir Roger, Leslie Denison gives a rather plain performance for most of the movie, but he redeems himself with a fine wordless performance in the tense climactic scene. Nedrick Young has a couple of good moments as an American truck driver, and Connie Leon does a decent job of providing comic relief in her scene as a Burmese bureaucrat.

"Bombs Over Burma" and "Lady From Chungking" both starred Wong, and were both made by the same production company at about the same point in the war. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses, but both benefit considerably from Wong's presence, and both were worthwhile in drawing attention to the often forgotten part of the war that was fought on mainland Asia.

So much more could have been done with this production if it had been better funded. always nice to see Anna May Wong