Terreur à Shanghai

When the story begins, China has just fallen to the Communists in 1949. Oddly, although you would THINK all foreign nationals in China would be scared and on their best behaviors so as to not upset the new regime, the westerners in this film are all angry and stupid. After being moved by the new regime to wait at a hotel, they scream at their captors, make threats and pretty much seem like obnoxious idiots. This is odd since it's supposed to be a propagnda picture that is anti-communist. I found myself wanting to see a few of these idiots get shot...and so the film really did not do its intended job! Fortunately, the obnoxious behaviors diminished as the film progressed.

The Chinese communists in this film are almost uniformly stupid, paranoid and evil. One is even apparently not above using extortion to try force one of the prisoners to put out for him. And, though the course of the film, these Chinese become more violent and nasty.

The odd person out in all this is Rita King (Ruth Roman). Unlike the other westerners, she is free to come and go from the hotel...presumably because she's putting out for one of the higher Chinese officials. Because of this, the other internees avoid and dislike her. But through the course of the story, she turns out to have a heart of gold and tries her best to help these prisoners.

If you are looking for realism, this isn't a great film for you. Although the Chinese communists were a bloodthirsty lot, the western folks in the film are almost like cartoon characters and often lack realism. Making threats against your captors...that certainly seems odd and stupidly out of place, for example.

Overall, a rather obvious propaganda film which could have been better had the writing been better. I think the Chinese were portrayed reasonably well...but the rest seemed like caricatures instead of real people.

Unfortunately, The Shanghai Story is not THE story of Shanghai after the fall of mainland China to the CCP in 1949. There are elements of truth in the film, and there are also stereotypes and exaggerations of CCP behavior. Some of what you see is true; and some of it is pretty silly stuff. Especially the ending; I will not reveal the ending, except to say it was one of the most ridiculous endings I have ever seen in a film. Edmund O"Brien was beginning to gain weight and age as a leading man, and looked more Rodney Dangerfield in a few scenes rather than a leading man. Ruth Roman was very good, however. And the direction is tight from Frank Lloyd. What we don't see are the motivations of the CCP in China at the time, and the amazing level of corruption of the KMT (that continues to this day in Taiwan). The fictional aspect of a "Chinese Underground" in Shanghai was also a complete fabrication; there was no such movement. However, the film is still entertaining.

This is not at all a bad film. It is interesting and fascinating, and still it has never had any great attention. The communists have taken over China, and some 50 Americans find themselves trapped in Shanghai and taken as hostages by the communists. They are interned in a hotel and forbidden to leave it, and anyone who tries will get shot down, because the communists believe there is a spy among them. One actually has a radio communication with the world outside, and he must get out of there to deliver an urgent message to the Americans in Tokyo, and Edmond O'Brien, who is a doctor, tries to help him. It is a beautiful film with lovely music, and Ruth Roman plays an important part as a kind of diplomatic link between the prisoners and the communists. It is not easy to follow all the turns of this twisted political dilemma, but the environment and circumstances are genuine. There is nothing wrong with it although complex and tricky.

The communists have taken over Shanghai. The city's luxury hotels have become internment camps for some of the few remaining foreigners. Dr. Dan Maynard (Edmond O'Brien) is world-weary from his time in China. Rita King (Ruth Roman) seems to have more freedom than the rest. Major Ling Wu (Philip Ahn) commands the guards and searches for an enemy agent among the group.

It's a Red Scare movie. I like the general opening premise. It does lean more on the concentration camp model of story. The movie is a bit stuck in that mode. Who's to say that there is a spy or not a spy or only one spy. I'm not invested in finding out. The movie is dreary and I don't care that much about it anyways.

I just watched The Shanghai Story and could not tell if it should be labeled a spy thriller! It is in a way, but not really.