King of Chinatown

Frank Baturin (Akim Tamiroff) is the "king of Chinatown", a benevolent gangster (!) who runs a lucrative gambling house in the area. Most of the neighborhood likes him, but aged herbalist Dr. Chang Ling (Sidney Toler) still thinks he's just a crook. When Baturin is shot in an assassination attempt, Ling's gifted surgeon daughter Mary (Anna May Wong) saves his life. The two become friends, but the violent underworld threatens to bring them all down,

Running less than an hour long, this minor gangster effort could have been something special with a fleshed out script and some fine tuning. Seeing an Asian woman depicted as not only a medical doctor but a gifted surgeon was very unusual for the time, and Wong imbues her role with grace and dignity. Philip Ahn plays a lawyer, and his character is treated with respect, and there's no cringe-worthy racial stereotyping going on. You would think with Tamiroff, J. Carrol Naish, and Anthony Quinn in the cast that there wouldn't be a single piece of scenery left unchewed, but they keep the ham in check. Toler had already appeared as Charlie Chan once by this point, and he adds a long white beard to his standard Chinese characterization. The story gets resolved too neatly and too quickly, which is a shame as the film had a lot of potential.

Sixty years ago America's hospitals were already staffed by East Asians, if Anna May Wong's skill with a scalpel is anything to go by; and she is supported by two future Charlie Chans in the form of well known Hollywood Eurasians Sidney Toler (resembling Tony Randall as Dr.Lao as her father) and J.Carroll Naish.

Heaven knows what part of Europe or Latin America a young & suave Akim Tamiroff (actually Russian) is supposed to hail from in the title role as anti-hero Nick Baturin; but Zorba was mercifully many years in the future when Anthony Quinn was required simply to be smoothly villainous in a supporting role as an all-American gangster.

I did not know that Nick Grinde worked for Paramount Pictures, I thought he only was a director for Warner, concerning those B crime thrillers. That said, this little crime drama is pretty exciting with a female lead who behaves like a man, as we see so many times now, in 2020's. And Akim Tamiroff as a kingpin, a mob boss, is of course a cliché, as when we see John Wayne as a sheriff or a cowboy...His roles in such roles are numerous, countless, and the ending here is abit cheesy, if you compare with the rest of this plot. It could have been a bit grittier. Such a shame because this story was very promising.

Akim Tamiroff is King of Chinatown. At least, he's head of the gang that is currently setting up a protective agency, which everyone knows and no one says. Lawyer Philip Ahn asks him to use his 'influence' to protective loved pharmacist and herbalist Sidney Toler, whose daughter, Anna May Wong, is a newly minted doctor, about to head off to work for the Red Cross in China. Tamiroff is considering the impact, when a gang war catches him in the crossfire. He's wounded, and nursed privately by Miss Wong.

It's a very interesting little programmer from Paramount that looks like it might have been planned at some stage for Josef von Sternberg, but its handling is far too conventional for Von. Tamiroff plays his usual tough mobster, but under the dignified ministrations of Miss Wong, he falls in love, and becomes more thoughtful. Meanwhile, his underlings, led by J. Carroll Naish and Anthony Quinn, take advantage of Tamiroff's absence to push him off.

It's the conflict between these two threads that make the story, and that looks pretty standard. What is not standard is the redemption thread, which humanizes both the leads very nicely in interesting variations of their usual roles.

KING OF CHINATOWN (Paramount, 1939), directed by Nick Grinde, the third in the cycle following the studio's title pattern of KING OF GAMBLERS (1937) with Akim Tamiroff, and KING OF ALCATRAZ (1938), with J. Carrol Naish, teams the aforementioned individual performers in a new "King" melodrama by which Akim Tamiroff assumes the title role. Anna May Wong, having already starred in DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI (1937) and DANGEROUS TO KNOW (1938), heads the cast once again, topping her previous efforts thus far. While her work in DANGEROUS TO KNOW was more of a showcase for Akim Tamiroff, her reunion with Tamiroff for KING OF CHINATOWN finds them both equally matched and essential to the story.

Set in San Francisco where a Chinese New Year's celebration is taking place, the story introduces Frank Baturin (Akim Tamiroff), manager of The Silver Club, a gambling casino he uses as a front. In actuality he's the notorious "King of Chinatown," head of a protective association for local Chinese businesses. The Professor (J. Carrol Naish), a scholarly looking gentleman with a prison record, who keeps the books for his crime boss, hopes to some day take control of his corrupt business. After losing $20,000 in a benefit boxing match between an American and Chinese prizefighter, Baturin learns he's been double crossed by one of his henchmen, Mike Gordon (Anthony Quinn). In the meantime, Mary Ling (Anna May Wong), a respected surgeon for Bayview Hospital, engaged to local attorney, Robert Lee (Philip Ahn), wants to leave the hospital for better pay elsewhere. Her father, Chang Ling (Sidney Toler), a pharmacist who refuses to pay protection money to Baturin's hoods, makes it known of his intentions on doing something about it. Later that night, gunshots mistaken for firecrackers cause injury to Baturin as his car lose loses control to crash near Ling's shop. Because Mary Ling believes her father to be responsible and not wanting him arrested, she immediately takes action in having Baturint sent to the hospital where she takes the case to perform an emergency operation. Keeping him out of reach of telephone calls and visitors, Baturin slowly recovers, unaware that both the Professor and Gordon have teamed together taking over his establishment. Wanting to keep Mary Ling from leaving his services, Baturin offers her at $200 a day to act as his nursemaid at his home. Needing that extra money to establish a Red Cross nursing unit in war-torn China, she accepts. Problems arise trying to protect her patient from both the outside world and those wanting to have him killed. Co-starring Roscoe Karns (Rep Harrigan, ambulance driver); Bernadene Hayes (Dolly Warren, hospital nurse); with Ray Mayer, Richard Denning, Charles Trowbridge and Pierre Watkin in supporting roles.

KING OF CHINATOWN is a prime example of creative movie making, regardless of its short length of 57 minutes. Its shows that bigger doesn't necessarily mean better. Anna May Wong is excellent in her leading role, working opposite Philip Ahn, as in DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI, playing her love interest. Quite effective is J. Carrol Naish assuming character type performance reminiscent to the similar acting style enacted by Stanley Ridges also playing a Professor in BLACK FRIDAY (Universal, 1940) starring Boris Karloff. Take notice that Anthony Quinn, in his third go round in an Anna May Wong movie, share no scenes together. Sidney Toler, who had already replaced Warner Oland in the popular "Charlie Chan" series, gets his dress rehearsal for future Chan role to come, enacting that as a wise Chinaman. With Wong having one more movie before leaving the Paramount banner later in 1939, KING OF CHINATOWN should go on record as her finest work for the studio at this point.

Nick Grinde's direction allows but a few lags, but the plot moves swiftly enough to prevent unnecessary scenes to slow down its action. While KING OF CHINATOWN did enjoy frequent television revivals prior to 1973 on WPIX, Channel 11, in New York City, it never had any home video distribution. It can be found both on you-tube or purchase on DVD from a private collector. It's well worth the time rediscovering Anna May Wong or Akim Tamiroff, "king of chinatown." (***)