Singapore Sue

It's unfortunate, but this film is in rather rough condition--as the print is very grainy and scratchy--unlike the other films in this collection of early Paramount musical shorts. However, it IS a very important film and well worth your time just for the cast--as it features a very young Cary Grant in one of his first films. Also, while less famous, the very prolific character actor Millard Mitchell also plays a sailor in this one.

The film begins in China. Four sailors enter a bar and Grant does most of the talking--and is pretty obnoxious. Anna Chang and Joe Wong entertain these jerks with a few songs. While the film was to highlight Chang, she simply couldn't sing and didn't look like the sort of actress Hollywood was looking for and she only appeared in three films. Interestingly, IMDb would seem to indicate that she's still alive--and over 100. So, as least in some ways life turned out well in spite of her career going bust.

I have seen SINGAPORE SUE and I believe that the title character was played by ANNA MAY WONG. I also believe that her singing voice was dubbed as well. Anna May Wong was the vastly underrated Asian-American actress from the silents to talkies to setting the precedent as the first Asian-American actress to star in her own tv series in the fall of 1951 for two months. She made one last movie, PORTRAIT IN BLACK, in 1960 then died in 1961 at the age of 56.

Sven was completely off-base in his comment, as far as I can tell from some quick Internet research. Anna May Wong was a star of silent movies in the 1920s and it seems unlikely that she would have taken a role in a Paramount short in 1932, especially one where she portrayed a singer in a dive. "Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend" by Graham Russell Gao Hodges would confirm this but even if you rely on the Wikipedia entry on her, "She spent the first half of the 1930s traveling between the U.S. and Europe for film and stage appearances." A look at her picture shows no resemblance to Anna Chang. According to a review on another site, Chang and Joe Wong, her co-star, were "popular Chinese vaudeville stars." That seems more plausible to me than assuming that Anna May Wong appeared in "Singapore Sue" under a pseudonym.

Singapore Sue, not a great motion picture, but entertaining at times. Cary Grant makes his screen debut costarring next to the beloved Anna Chang in this clever comedy short about an American sailor boy who falls deeply in love with a Chinese dancing girl, Sue. The young Grant's face is barely recognizable behind that thick coating of makeup they had plastered all over it. But really folks, Casey Robinson is such an excellent director, it's surprising we don't see more of his work today. If I had to describe it in words I would only need one: a superb masterpiece. Come see this unforgettable classic feature and hear Singapore sing. I give it five stars, that's five out of ten. The rest is not worth commenting on.

I picked up this movie short, with 7 other titles, at a library discard sale and I'm so glad I did. "Singapore Sue" took me by surprise as I got to see a young and up-coming Cary Grant and a delightful Asian actress Anna Chang. You can see the "raw" Cary as he portrayed a sailor looking for love. His character looks so odd compared to the way we think of him today. But the most charming part to me was seeing Anna Chang sing and dance around in her little outfit that was risqué for the period. She and the other Chinese singer/actor, I believe to be Joe Wong (the only other Chinese name in the credits), were great! A very charming and entertaining short film not typical for the period because of the use of prominent Chinese actors in an American film.

Kino Video "Rhapsodies in Black & Blue" vol. 4, VHS with other musical shorts including Eddie Cantor, Rudy Vallee, Louis Armstrong, Ethel Merman and more. If anyone has any of the other three in the series, let me know!