King of Chinatown

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." (***)

There are a lot of positives about the depiction of Chinatown in this film from 1939, which is more than I can say about many other films from the decades before and after. Rather than a den of iniquity, with subterranean chambers and evil schemers dealing in white slavery, it's a place of honest businessmen. There is organized crime, but it's imposed from the outside the community by a gangster, who in turn faces competition to be "King of Chinatown" from a disloyal lieutenant and a rival. They shake down shopkeepers, kill those who resist, and run the usual sorts of rackets. Providing dignified spiritual strength is a dealer in traditional medicine (Sidney Toler in yellowface), his daughter (Anna May Wong), and her boyfriend (Philip Ahn), all of whom are presented sans stereotypes. Wong plays a skilled surgeon which is incredibly refreshing in light of the number of servant roles she was relegated to her in her career. She's radiant, and Ahn's character, while a little flat, is sharp about the corruption going on around him. There are other little bits, like how one of the characters points out how chop suey is an Americanized version of Chinese food, and a pretty tough Chinese-American boxer in the ring.

It's a simple film and only 57 minutes long, but drama comes in two ways: the aforementioned vying to be top dog which results in a murder attempt, and the fact that it's Wong's character who then saves the gangster's life against long odds and tends to him. The rivals then scheme against one another and try to exert pressure on the doctor through her father. There are a couple of violent scenes and some backstabbing, but the plot is a constrained and not one you'll probably get too excited over. Watch it for Anna May Wong, Philp Ahn, and 24-year-old Anthony Quinn though. These actors, along with the film's feminism and progressive depiction of Chinese-Americans, make it worth seeing.

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.

This is another of Paramount's Anna May Wong vehicles of B length with much of the same cast we see in her other efforts of that time. It will be of definite interest to her fans. On this occasion, the portrayal of a professional Chinese-American woman of principle and good heart is well handled. In fact, some recent films could play close attention to some of the details here in that regard and learn from them.

Chinese culture and most other issues are also handled in a progressive fashion and not overdone. The cast and the director knows their craft and delivers. All that is satisfying given this is a 30s B movie without the time or resources to develop a lot of deep characters and sub-plots.

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.