Ombres sur Shanghai

Just a note the goof is not right about 'Johnny phone' is wrong he picks up middle phone and leaves from the middle phone the mistake is that the Chinese gentleman is using the right phone but standing in middle

In this Grand National cheapie no one got any closer to Shanghai than Los Angeles's Chinatown. James Dunn late of the Fox Studios starred as once again an fast talking Irish American, a kind of Pat O'Brien light working in Shanghai as a news photographer. A chance meeting on the street with Linda Gray the daughter of a missionary gets him involved in all of her troubles which are considerable.

Gray's got troubles all right. She's been entrusted with half an amulet which if presented to the owner of the other half in San Francisco will net her a small fortune that will be used to buy weapons for the Kuomintang government to fight its enemies foreign and domestic. Assisting her is a mutual friend of both Ralph Morgan who suggests that since she was born in China and has no American passport that she and Dunn marry and gain citizenship that way with the automatic exit. It doesn't prove that simple.

For an action hero Dunn doesn't get all that much action, in fact he's reduced to a lot of wisecracks. Morgan does the heavy lifting and he's clever at outwitting Soviet agent Robert Barrat who wants the amulet for nefarious Communist purposes and Japanese top agent Paul Sutton.

Shadow Over Shanghai made with a Gone With The Breeze budget is still reasonably entertaining relying considerably on James Dunn's charming Irish ways.

"Shadows Over Shanghai" is a very strange film, as its plot and timing is quite odd. It's set during the Japanese invasion of China and takes a somewhat neutral stance on this aggressive and morally bankrupt war.

The film begins with a Irene Roma (Lynda Grey) waiting for her brother to fly home to the school she runs in China. However, at the last minute, another plane flies by and shoots him down--right in front of the horrified Irene! Fortunately, the brother is not dead and he entrusts a necklace to her--making her promise to get it to San Francisco. She runs from the school and drives to town on her mission--pursued by the evil Saragoza (Robert Barrat). She soon meets up with a nice-guy reporter, Johnny (James Dunn) and he and a new friend (Ralph Morgan*) help Irene escape from not just Sargoza but Japanese agents as well.

This is a very strange film. It appears as if the writers WANTED to do a film that condemned the Japanese for their bloody attacks on China. But, they hedged their bets and never quite took a strong stand--mostly because the US was officially neutral and because, sadly, Americans generally didn't care about what was happening in Asia. Regardless, it's entertaining and worth seeing--even if the end is a bit dissatisfying.

*Ralph was never nearly as famous as his brother, Frank (the Wizard in "The Wizard of Oz"). I never understood this, as Ralph was a really fine actor and deserves to be remembered. And, interestingly, he really does look an awful lot like Frank, though his acting seemed less bombastic and much more subtle.

A pilot Peter Roma (Edward Woods) is carrying a valuable amulet and in the process is shot down in a dog fight over China, by a ruthless ex-Russian agent, Igor Sargoza (Robert Barrat with a beard), who also wants the amulet for his own nefarious purpose.

Peter Roma is out of action, so he hands the baton... oops, amulet to his sister Irene Roma (Lynda Grey), to completer the mission. The balance of the movie is the trials and tribulations she must go through along with her uninvited friend Johnny McGinty (James Dunn.) At one point during a marriage ceremony, they leave out "obey" and make a point of it being a modern marriage. I had to put my hands over my wife's ears and point in another direction.

In the process we get some stock ware footage. And a few miniatures tossed in. How will this all end or will it?

This must have been a good 'B' picture back in the day, and might have challenged the main feature as far as entertainment value is concerned. It held my interest throughout and got off the screen in a neat 65 minutes. It was produced by Grand National Pictures, a short-lived arm of Warner Bros.Studios in the 30's.

"Shadows Over Shanghai" stars James Dunne, whose best was yet to come in "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" (1944), and who was in the midst of a career crisis due to alcohol problems. Hence, a starring role in an obscure new studio. The film is built around him, a good-natured Irish reporter with a magnetic personality. He latches on to a girl who is in over her head in top-secret espionage between China, Russia and the US. There are equal measures of suspense, humor and escapism and enough excitement to go around (but which did not impress my colleagues above).

This picture is worth your time and is better than many films rated higher. There is good acting support from Ralph Morgan (not the Wizard - his brother) and from Robert Barrat in a villainous role. Also, WWII movie fans will recognize Richard Loo, who played Japanese bad guys in scores of war pictures. Talk about movie villains!