Le bourreau

I'm sure everyone has to mention the most obvious thing about this movie, that nearly all the characters are Chinese played by non-chinese actors. But this is no Charlie Chan with silly accents. None of the actors engage in cheap stereotypes. There's nothing here that's anywhere near as embarrassing as Mickey Rooney's Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's... or, much more recently, Johnny Depp's version of Tonto in The Lone Ranger. The story itself depicts the Chinese American community in a generally favorable light... despite its focus being on the Tongs of San Francisco's Chinatown. Robinson's Tong assassin is an honorable and admirable man, despite his profession.

So with that out of the way, this was a pretty great story and Robinson's character is complex. He wants to be free of his violent past as an assassin for the Tong, he wants to acclimate to life in the U.S. and be a good citizen... but he's also tied to tradition and sworn oaths. It's was less formulaic than I'd expect, I wasn't quite sure where it was leading till I was 3/4 through it. Seeing as it's pre-code it's not as overtly moralistic as later films. It looks great too. There are some nice sets and costumes and Ms. Young was particularly elegant. It's not a happy story, but it's entertaining and unusual. I'm kind of surprised someone hasn't remade it, with a less controversial cast.

A hatchet job is what I fully intended to do to this movie until I found some quiet time in the afternoon to watch it. In fact I gave it an 8/10 for novelty as well as pathos. The casting is preposterous. Can you imagine Edward G Robinson and Loretta Young as Chinese?

Eddie G plays a well respected Tong assassin who is forced to kill his childhood friend and blood brother (played by J Carroll Naish) witch was no surprise. He inherits the friends business and 6 year old daughter for his effort. He prospers and when the girl grows up, he marries her. I should mention that Loretta Young was only 19 when she made this movie and she was remarkably sexy and seductive. Along comes another Tong War and Eddie is pulled out of retirement to do his stuff. Meanwhile his young wife falls for the bodyguard and runs off with him. Loretta and her lover are deported to China for messing about with opium. Although Eddie is initially shamed by her betrayal, he eventually redeems himself and his reputation. After all, he is a hatchet man!

This is one of EGR's lesser known movies, but if you can get over the bizarre casting, the story really is gripping and the cast turns in a bravo performance.

Portraying such a different world to what we know makes this a little difficult to relate to but the use of familiar actors helps. This feels a little restrained and sedate for William Wellman film but nevertheless it squeezes a lot in, keeps your interest and is a certainly unusual.

Edward G (G for greatly overrated) Robinson actually gives a particularly decent performance in this. Although obviously not Chinese he gives the part a surprisingly rich amount of authenticity. He plays his character very sympathetically, respectful to the Chinatown community - albeit a community he feels increasingly isolated from, so I don't see any issues with this at all.

The set designers and makeup department did wonders with this, you really feel like you're in old San Francisco's Chinatown. Whereas EGR does look pretty Chinese, Loretta Young just looks pretty. Her makeup does make her look quite weird but it would be impossible for her not to look absolutely stunning. This performance however is not one of her best. She was an outstanding actress but is wasted in this - she doesn't have much to do other than to look pretty.

But the question is: what does she see in Leslie Fenton? He looks like the most evil man in the world. That sinister smile of his has the glint of the brass plate of a coffin. So what does she see in him? That's one of the problems with this film - we're not told. One minute she's saying hello, the next minute she's having an affair with him. Important parts of the story are just ignored - it could have done with another half an hour.

Director William Wellman used Fenton to similar effect in THE PUBLIC ENEMY the year before but in that we knew who he was. Considering the opulence of the sets, it feels like all the money was spent there and nobody bothered to pay the scriptwriters. Fenton's character feels unfinished. Like Loretta Young's character, you don't really get to know him properly. Besides EGR's Mr Wong which is beautifully crafted with inner conflict with contradictions you can see fighting each other inside his head, some of the supporting actors' characters feel like caricatures.

Despite the film's premise, essentially about an assassin and despite it being made by William Well-action-man, it's surprisingly tame and not very meaty. Don't expect proto-Tarantino but do expect sensitivity and a genuine attempt to tell a story of a modern man who feels trapped in a culture he no longer belongs to.

Hatchet Man, The (1932)

*** (out of 4)

Entertaining crime picture has Edward G. Robinson playing the title character, a hit man for a tong gang in Chinatown who must murder his best friend. Before the murder the man gives his daughter to Robinson so that he can marry her when she gets older. Years pass and Robinson and the girl (Loretta Young) are about to be married when another tong war breaks out. Director Wellman knows how to handle this material and does so very well and the film moves very fast and is over before you can blink. The fact that whites are playing all the Asian roles might bother some but nothing ever gets too offensive. Robinson gives a very good, quiet performance even though he's never believable as an Asian. He speaks with his normal voice so there's really never an attempt to come off Asian. Young is also very good in her role, although she isn't given a whole lot to do. I'm not sure if this is wrong or not but in her Asian make up she comes off as one of the most attractive Asian women I've seen. The supporting cast are all fine in their roles with J. Carrol Naish having a bit part. The story is pretty light weight but it remains entertaining through its 74-minutes.

Yes as many have stated, by today's standards, the casting of this movie seems ridiculous, but please keep in mind the time period that this movie was made. All things considered, even with the period specific "whites for ethnic minorities" casting mentality, respect for a certain amount of cultural authenticity was in this movie to a greater degree than in previous films of this era, and so I feel that in that respect this movie was ground breaking and helped slowly pave the way for minorities to eventually take center stage in great theatrical releases. Most other films before and since (until the late 70's early 80's) stereotyped Asian characters as clownish and comical to an absolutely racist degree. Not so here. Robinson (although he did use some stereotyping) created a character who was not only mysterious, but both an anti-hero as well as deep & complex the likes of which would not be seen for a great long time after. His acting ability was amazing and truly well showcased here. He was able to show what really made his characters great and not just the mugging gangster stereotype that became so exaggerated over time. Often people forget what a true talent Robinson was, and if you need to know why... See this one if you ever get the chance!!!