''Confessions of an Opium Eater'' also known as Souls for Sale and Evils of Chinatown is a 1962 American

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

produced and directed by Albert Zugsmith. It is loosely based on the 1821

autobiographical novel An autobiographical novel, also known as an autobiographical fiction, fictional autobiography, or autobiographical fiction novel, is a type of novel which uses autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fictive elements. The ...

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater ''Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' is an 1821 autobiography, autobiographical account written by Thomas De Quincey, about his laudanum addiction and its effect on his life. The ''Confessions'' was "the first major work De Quincey publishe ...

'', written by

Thomas De Quincey Thomas Penson De Quincey (; Thomas Penson Quincey; 15 August 17858 December 1859) was an English writer, essayist, and literary critic, best known for his ''Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'' (1821).Eaton, Horace Ainsworth, ''Thomas De Q ...

. After circulating for years as a bootleg, it was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

as part of the Warner Archive Collection in 2012. This film stars

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor. He was known for his work in the horror film genre, mostly portraying villains. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price ...

as Gilbert de Quincey, a nineteenth-century adventurer who becomes involved in a tong war in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. Price also narrated the film, whose evocative cinematography resembles a nightmare. The film was something of a departure for Price; the prolific actor never performed another role that involved so much physical action.

Plot

In 1902, adventurer Gilbert De Quincey, a descendant of

, is hired by the editor of a Chinese newspaper to stop auctions of trafficked Chinese women to be the brides of Chinese men resident in the United States. The community is split down the middle between those feeling the traditional practice is the only way for overseas Chinese to obtain brides, and those who regard the practise as indecent.

Cast

as Gilbert De Quincey * Linda Ho as Ruby Low *

Richard Loo Richard Loo (October 1, 1903 – November 20, 1983) was an American film actor who was one of the most familiar Asian character actors in American films of the 1930s and 1940s. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1931 and 1982. Early lif ...

as George Wah * June Kyoto Lu as Lotus (as June Kim) *

Philip Ahn Philip 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 Asian-American char ...

as Ching Foon * Yvonne Moray as the midget girl with sing-sing voice * Caroline Kido as Lo Tsen * Terence De Marney as Englishman in opium den

Reception

In 1998,

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for '' The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has contributed to ...

of the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...

'' included the film in his unranked list of the best American films not included on the AFI Top 100.

References

External links

* * * 1962 films 1962 crime drama films American crime drama films American black-and-white films Allied Artists films Films based on non-fiction books Films set in San Francisco Films scored by Albert Glasser Chinatown, San Francisco in fiction Films about race and ethnicity Films about opium 1960s exploitation films Psychedelic films Surrealist films Works about human trafficking Works about sex trafficking Human trafficking in the United States Films about human trafficking in the United States Films about substance abuse Films set in 1902 1960s English-language films Films directed by Albert Zugsmith 1960s American films English-language crime drama films {{1960s-US-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links