''Daughter of Shanghai'' is a 1937 American crime film directed by

Robert Florey Robert Florey (14 September 1900 – 16 May 1979) was a French-American director, screenwriter, film journalist and actor. Born as Robert Fuchs in Paris, he became an orphan at an early age and was then raised in Switzerland. In 1920 he worked a ...

and starring

Anna May Wong Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese-American movie star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese-American actress to gain intern ...

. Unusually for the time, East Asian American actors played the lead roles. It was also one of the first films in which

Anthony Quinn Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known professionally as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican-American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental v ...

appeared. In 2006, ''Daughter of Shanghai'' was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures to be added to the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

Plot

Lan Ying Lin and government agent Kim Lee battle alien smugglers.

Cast

as Lan Ying Lin *

Charles Bickford Charles Ambrose Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor known for supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for '' The Song of Bernadette'' (1943), '' The F ...

as Otto Hartman *

Buster Crabbe Clarence Linden Crabbe II (; February 7, 1908 – April 23, 1983), known professionally as Buster Crabbe, was an American two-time Olympic swimmer and film and television actor. He won the 1932 Olympic gold medal for 400-meter freestyle swimmi ...

as Andrew Sleete (as Larry Crabbe) *

Cecil Cunningham Edna Cecil Cunningham (August 2, 1888 – April 17, 1959) was an American film and stage actress, singer, and comedienne. Early years Cunningham started her working life as a switchboard operator in a commerce bank and did some sittings as a ...

as Mrs. Mary Hunt * J. Carrol Naish as Frank Barden *

as Harry Morgan * John Patterson as James Lang *

Evelyn Brent Evelyn Brent (born Mary Elizabeth Riggs; October 20, 1895 – June 4, 1975) was an American film and stage actress. Early life Brent was born in Tampa, Florida, and known as Betty. When she was age 10, her mother Eleanor (née. Warner) died, ...

as Olga Derey *

Philip Ahn Philip Ahn (born Pillip Ahn (), March 29, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was an American actor and activist of Korean descent. With over 180 film and television credits between 1935 and 1978, he was one of the most recognizable and prolific Asi ...

as Kim Lee *

Fred Kohler Fred Kohler (April 20, 1888 – October 28, 1938) was an American actor. Career Fred Kohler was born in Kansas City, Missouri or in Dubuque, Iowa. As a teen, he began to pursue a career in vaudeville, but worked other jobs to support himself. ...

as Captain Gulner *

Guy Bates Post Guy Bates Post (September 22, 1875 – January 16, 1968) was an American character actor who appeared in at least twenty-one Broadway plays and twenty-five Hollywood films over a career that spanned more than fifty years. He was perhaps best rem ...

as Lloyd Burkett * Virginia Dabney as Rita - a Dancer

Analysis

Daughter of Shanghai (1937) - Anna May Wong and Philip Ahn

''Daughter of Shanghai'' is unique among 1930s Hollywood features for its portrayal of an Asian-focused theme with two prominent Asian-American performers as leads. This was truly unusual in a time when white actors typically played Asian characters in the cinema. At best, Hollywood assigned some Asian roles to Asian performers and some to white stars in the same film, with results that seem discordant today even if widely accepted at the time. ''Daughter of Shanghai'' was prepared as a vehicle for

, the first Asian-American woman to become a star of the Hollywood cinema. Appearing in some 60 movies during her life, she was a top billed player for over twenty years, working not only in Hollywood, but also in England and Germany. In addition, she was a star of the stage and a frequent guest performer on radio, and would headline the first American television series concentrating on an Asian character, ''

The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong ''The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong'' is an American television series which aired on the now defunct DuMont Television Network. It starred Chinese American silent film and talkie star Anna May Wong (birth name Wong Liu-tsong) who played a detectiv ...

'' (DuMont, 1951).

Reception

Contemporaneous

Daughter of Shanghai (publicity photo 1714-73)

On its release, on December 17, 1937, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' gave the film a generally positive review, commenting of its B-movie origins, "An unusually competent cast saves the film from the worst consequences of certain inevitable banalities. he cast.. combine with effective sets to reduce the natural odds against any pictures in the ''Daughter of Shanghai'' tradition."

Modern

The film has received critical acclaim from modern day critics. The review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports that 95% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 20 reviews. Critics near universally praised the performances of the lead actors Philip Ahn and especially Anna May Wong. In 2006, the film was selected for preservation in the United States

by the

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In a press release, the

said:

" B-films during the studio era often resonate decades later because they explore issues and themes not found in higher-budget pictures.
Robert Florey Robert Florey (14 September 1900 – 16 May 1979) was a French-American director, screenwriter, film journalist and actor. Born as Robert Fuchs in Paris, he became an orphan at an early age and was then raised in Switzerland. In 1920 he worked a ...
, widely acclaimed as the best director working in major studio B-films during this period, crafted an intriguing, taut thriller.
Anna May Wong Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese-American movie star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese-American actress to gain intern ...
overcame Hollywood's practice at the time of casting white actors to play Asian roles and became its first, and a leading, Asian-American movie star in the 1920s through the late 1930s. ''Daughter of Shanghai'' was more truly Wong's personal vehicle than any of her other films. In the story she uncovers the smuggling of illegal aliens through San Francisco’s Chinatown, cooperating with costar
Philip Ahn Philip Ahn (born Pillip Ahn (), March 29, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was an American actor and activist of Korean descent. With over 180 film and television credits between 1935 and 1978, he was one of the most recognizable and prolific Asi ...
as the first Asian
G-man ''G-man'' (short for "government man", plural ''G-men'') is an American slang term for agents of the United States Government. It is especially used as a term for an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). ''G-man'' is also a term ...
of the American cinema."

References

Bibliography

External links

* ''Daughter of Shanghai'' essay by Brian Taves at

br>
* ''Daughter of Shanghai'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pages 270-27

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Daughter Of Shanghai 1937 films 1937 crime films Films about Chinese Americans American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films Paramount Pictures films United States National Film Registry films Films directed by Robert Florey American crime films 1930s American films