China Inconquistável

This turns out to be a very watchable programmer from PRC. Anna May Wong commands the screen throughout and Mae Clarke isn't bad either. The whole story is told in little more than an hour, as per most poverty row productions, and considering the budget, it looks rather convincing. These little studios gave some one-time big stars such as those in this film a chance to show that they still had it. The production is directed by poverty row ace William Nigh, who does a fairly good job here. This was obviously but one of dozens of WW2 propaganda films, but this still has the power to entertain. Available on DVD or streaming on YouTube.

I saw this film at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens quite by accident; film screenings are included in the price of admission. (If you get the chance, be sure to visit the museum. It is a wonderful small museum.) My husband and I loved the film. While the picture quality and the sound were not great it was manageable. In the context of the time period, the story line is realistic and Wong was excellent in the title role. I will be sure to look for more films with her. If you get a chance to see this, it is definitely worthwhile. Another piece of history to fill in the gaps left out of the history books.

This is a stilted and rather creaky wartime film, made on a low budget and meant to boost morale, so it certainly won't be for everyone. It made for interesting viewing for me, however, because of the luminous presence of Anna May Wong, who didn't disappoint. It's fantastic that her character is the leader of the Chinese resistance to Japanese occupation which gave the film an unexpected aspect of feminism, and her performance is strong. Mae Clarke is wonderful here too. The story is skeletal and rather hokey, but there is power in the film being set in China given the atrocities that were taking place there, and Wong's speech at the end still inspires:

"You cannot kill me. You cannot kill China. Not even a million deaths could crush the soul of China, for the soul of China is eternal. When I die, a million will take my place, and nothing can stop them, neither hunger, nor torture, nor the firing squad. We shall live on until the enemy is driven back over scorched land and hurled into the sea. That time will come soon, for the armies of decency and liberty are on the march. China's destiny is victory. It will live because human freedom will not perish. Out of the ashes of ruin and the old hatreds, the force of peace will prevail, until the world is again sane and beautiful."

Anna May Wong gives a poised and dignified starring performance that fully demonstrates a great but indefinable quality: screen presence. It is even more remarkable since this film has a grade-c level budget.

Harold Huber is miscast as a Japanese General (he often was miscast in his movie roles) but he does manage to subdue his usual tendency to shout dialog, and imbues his performance with the pompousness and ego that the character requires.

Ms. Wong is convincing as a leader of brave Chinese WWII resistance, a cause that was close to her international viewpoint and efforts at the time.

I would give a 10 star rating to Ms. Wong and maybe a 5 to the film itself. But I absolutely recommend that everyone view "Lady From Chungking" for Anna May Wong's performance. It is indisputably the performance of a true Movie Star.

Overall, this is a solid if unspectacular wartime drama, with a message that was important at the time. But Anna May Wong's performance lifts it well above the norm for its genre, and although it seems likely that she was cast primarily so as to lend her charm and her reputation to the movie's message, the movie serves quite well as a showcase for her own considerable abilities.

The story has Wong as the leader of a resistance group to the Japanese occupation of China, and while the film definitely has a low-budget look to it, the atmosphere is generally convincing. Mae Clarke does a good job and is rather appealing herself, as a cynical singer whose loyalties are obscure. As the Japanese general with whom Wong's character must match wits, Harold Huber is too obviously not Asian for the role to work completely, but he does do a solid job of portraying the general as greedy yet short-sighted, egotistical but foolish.

Wong gets plenty of good material to work with, and she does an excellent job with all of it. At times she must act as a meek subject of the occupiers, at other times a tough-minded leader in a desperate situation. Then, in the scenes when she tries to win the general's confidence, she is finally able to do justice to her beauty and her elegant reserve. She makes it very convincing to believe that she could captivate a man much tougher than General Kaimura. Finally, in the speech that drives home the movie's message, her voice works very well in delivering the message.

Anna May Wong is certainly better remembered for her roles in other, far more lavish productions than this. Without her, "Lady from Chungking" would a well-meaning but generally nondescript feature. But it's easily worth seeing for the opportunities that it gives her to provide an example of her wide range of abilities.