Pasaporte a China

This whole thing just looks like a series of out-takes from a "Fu Manchu" movie - and not a very good one at that! Richard Basehart is the wily travel agent "Benton" who makes a decent living in Hong Kong after the war. When his local brother "Jimmy" (Burt Kwouk) disappears flying his commercial aircraft, he must head up-river to (rather easily) rescue him and is soon embroiled in an intrigue involving the Red Chinese. His protagonist is the unlikely "Ivono Kong" (Eric Pohlmann - who reminded me of "Con-Fu-Shon" from the 1958 version of "Tomb Thumb"). Deciding the answer lies in neighbouring Canton, he avails himself of an offer of a visa from "Kong" and makes the journey where he encounters the brightly made-up "Lola" (Lisa Gastoni) who is scheming to rescue some refugees from the communists. Can they escape? This is standard Hammer fodder that plays to stereotype from start to finish. The dialogue is banal, as is the acting and the scenario and indeed, even by daytime feature standards, this looks like the budget went on the star and positively nowhere else.

"Visa to Canton" is not an especially believable movie and a lot of the 'Asians' in the film where white folks in makeup and prosthetics...two big strikes against the movie. Despite this, I still enjoyed watching it and perhaps you will as well.

Richard Basehart plays Don Benton, an American who lives in Hong Kong...doing business as a travel agent. His political stances are not strong at all...he just wants to make money helping travelers. Out of the blue, he's approached by an American agent that want him to go into communist China to do a job for them. He refuses, but soon goes when he learns more. It seems that a good friend of his is a pilot and his plane went down near Canton. So, he sneaks in and rescues him. Well, this isn't all the agent wanted him to do, as three folks on the plane aren't accounted for...and he wants him to go back and find them. Will Don go...or will common sense keep him in Hong Kong.

The film is fast-paced and simple entertainment...nothing fancy nor sophisticated here...just a nice old adventure film.

By the way, the segment where they talk about the Chinese people going out to massacre the sparrows...that REALLY did happen. The Chinese government decided that sparrows were eating too many of the crops and they ordered everyone to go outside and make lots of noise and do everything they can to kill the birds by exhaustion. It worked and millions were killed. But soon they realized the stupidity of the plan, as bugs were now unchecked and the crops were completely decimated...killing millions due to starvation. Don't believe me? Read up on it...it's a very strange bit of Chinese history.

This film is in the spy-espionage genre but it is wrong to compare it with the James Bond films. It doesn't have the budget, the.gadgets, the suspense, the level of violence and the locations don't wander all round the world. Think more of the Harry Palmer spy films, except that this one is located in Hong Kong not Britain.

The lead character, (played by Richard Basehart), is Don Benton, a former World War II pilot who runs a travel agency in Hong Kong. He has a close relationship with his adopted Chinese family, who hid him from the Japanese during the war. The first scenes portray his travel agency and set him up as a man with wide contacts and somewhat loose scruples. When two customers complain about having difficulty getting a visa to visit the Phillipines he knows exactly who to ask and which official to bribe to get the visas .expedited. He is visited in his office by a US agent called Johnson who clearly wants him to get involved in working for the US government but Benton refuses because he doesn't want to get tangled in politics and orders him out of his office. But another agent later catches up with him and explains that the US government is interested in finding out the whereabouts of several passengers on a plane that crashed in China during a typhoon. Benton's adopted brother Jimmy (played by Bert Kwouk) was the pilot. He survived the crash but is now trapped over the Chinese border. Benton goes looking for Jimmy and brings him back. Jimmy reveals that his plane was decoyed off course over Chinese territory and shot down by two Chinese MiG fighter planes. .Back in Hong Kong the police arrest Jimmy because they believe the plane was intercepted with the connivance of the pilot. Jimmy cannot prove he isn't an agent of the Chinese government because all his identity documents are at the bottom of a river with the wreckage of his plane. Benton then uses one of his contacts to get a visa to Canton so that he can investigate what happened and prove Jimmy's identity.

People who like their spy films with lots of action and suspense are likely to find this one disappointing. There is very little suspense and the plot is largely dialogue-driven but it moves along at a good enough pace to maintain a viewer's interest. Benton's close relationship with his adopted Chinese family adds a warm and pleasing element to the story and the film has a satisfactory ending. It's an average film that is pleasantly watchable.

I always take films in their context and so I'm not generally put off by women (In this film, Benton's sisters) being given limited, stereotyped roles. That was typical of films made in the sixties. And I can put up with white European actors playing Asian characters. But I don't like it when that turns into caricature. The big jarring note in this film is the white actress who plays the Chinese family's matriarch. She is badly miscast. She doesn't look remotely oriental, speaks a cringeworthy version of pidgin English and her acting is more at the level of a pantomime than a film. It's a pity the film makers didn't find a Chinese actress for the role.

Richard Basehart was always a better actor than Sean Connery, so it only makes sense that a role as a spy played by both actors would be better under Basehart. This film is just as good as any Bond film, without all the bells and whistles, as well as special effects. I have always preferred a good story over those other things. A story based in Hong Kong and Canton in the early 1960s is very intriguing for me, as I worked in China for over a decade. Admittedly, there are a number of cliches and stereeotypes associated with Asian characters in the film (except for Jimmy). However, if one can excuse these shortcomings, you will have an interesting film to view.

"Visa to Canton", or "Passport for China" if you prefer, is a 1960 produced Hammer Film, that I watched along with the "House of Hammer" podcast. Generally, I thought it was alright, but there's some unfortunate aspects now, and a slightly underwhelming plot, that let it down.

Don Benton (Richard Basehart) is a travel agent in Hong Kong, organising passage and access for people around the region. Following a plane crash, he's approached by the CIA to try and retrieve an American downed in communist China. He refuses, but then relents when he discovers that the pilot was his 'brother', Jimmy (Burt Kwouk) from the family he lived with, having been shot down, during the War. With the help of Ivano Kang (Eric Pohlmann) Benton heads for the mainland to attempt to find the plane.

So, it's hard in this day and age not to start with the fact that his film has several actors, who aren't Asian, playing Chinese characters. The most egregious example is Athene Seyler whose very much English, as Moa Tai Tai - matriarch of the family at the heart of the film. Whilst I wouldn't say it's white saviour story, I would also say there's real white saviour vibes from it - as Benton is waited on hand and food by the submissive women that work for him at the travel agency.

The film also has Bernard Cribbins playing a Portuguese character though admitted that is more funny than anything else.

I'd say that I was on my way to enjoying the film though. There's a bit of a boy's own adventure section as he heads into China and dodges soldiers whilst trying to get to Jimmy. Then there's some proto "James Bond" intrigue as he meets an attractive woman and various foreign agents. From there though it all rather just drifts away to not much, as his escape with Lolo, which should be the bulk of the third act is over too quickly.

I've watched films for this podcast that I haven't found as easy to watch as this one - but it's too slight and the ending too underwhelming to really recommend.