This movie is more interesting for the story around the movie than the movie itself. With a story set in later tsarist Russia, it was filmed in 3 versions, English, French and German with Anna May Wong starring as Hai Tang in each and handling the different languages along with a different surrounding cast. Did anyone else ever pull that off? It was also Anna May Wong's first talkie although her acting contains large elements of a silent film style as it often did.
That being said, the plot is simple and tragic and is interrupted only by various songs and dances which, with a couple of exceptions, are not very interesting. The digital copy that I saw was of very high quality which certainly helps. The close-ups of Anna May Wong show her always remarkable photogenic complexion very well. Visually, she jumps off the screen. The other characters including a nasty woman who intrigues against her are fairly predictable.
While this is a must-see for Anna May Wong fans, it is less interesting for those who are not.
