Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

mark.waltz By allowing many films to fall into the public domain, copyright owners have given movie audiences the chance to see obscure movies that otherwise they may not have thought of watching. Through the many public domain video and DVD companies, these movies have become rediscovered and future film-goers are looking at them and sometimes even more creative than the features made during the golden age of cinema.PRC, sometimes referred to as pretty rotten cinema, had a few masterpieces. Some of them truly stand the test of time and are truly influential in giving ideas to independent filmmakers as to how to make the type of movies that is part of their artistry. The new wave of films in the 1940s and 1950s created a whole new set of filmmakers who probably were lucky enough to see these B films made while they were at their movie-going teenage height.During World War II, there were hundreds of movies made that dealt with the issues of the war. Some to be honest are crap. They have stereotypical villains of German or Japanese backgrounds. Italians for the most part were usually sparred such one dimensional portrayals. I guess when you have a short man with an angry looking mustache and a Donald Trump hair don't and an evil looking Asian man, it's easy to type cast them as the villains. The Japanese got some horrible typecasting in their villains, but a few films managed to show the leaders of the Empire's military as slightly more human than some other filmmakers did. That is the case here, where the beautiful Anna May Wong plays a Chinese woman who becomes the Joan of Arc of her nation by standing up to the invading Japanese, becoming almost a Mata Hari herself as she leads the efforts to destroy them. Wong gives an excellent performance, and every action that comes from her face is as revealing as the lines she is reading. She gives a sneer without squinting her nose and it indicates both hatred and fear, not necessarily for herself but for her people. With Harold Huber playing the Japanese general, she is willing to come off almost as a prostitute in order to reach her mission. Anna knows that her life is at stake, it is worth the risk. May Clark, the actress famous for having the grapefruit shoved in her face by James Cagney, has another good role as a tough Russian singer.I don't know how realistic this is in the lives of the Chinese peasants who found their homeland being invaded by the Japanese but you can't help but admire the ones who are willing to give up their own lives to preserve liberty. There are many great little details in this film, particularly the excellent photography which while still rather shoddy compared to the a Studios is still impressive. This is a film that has managed to stand the test of time because it shows both of Chinese and the Japanese in a different light then they are normally given and does a great chance to see the much neglected walk in a leading role even if it is at one of the poverty row studios.

Panamint 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.

bkoganbing Anna May Wong's regal beauty and charisma stands out like a diamond in a in a sea of rhinestones in Lady From Chungking, one of two wartime propaganda film she did for PRC Pictures. The film looks like it was shot on a western film location and has some western like aspects.Anna's a patrician lady here who is doing a little espionage work for the Chinese Resistance. Once exposed to her charms Japanese general Harold Huber shows absolutely no resistance. Mata Hari had nothing on Anna May Wong. This film's location is some backwater part of western China. Until Chiang Kai-Shek chose it as his capital in exile Chungking itself was as backwater a town as you could find. Huber's presence means that a Japanese army can't be far behind and Anna's mission is to find out what Huber is up to.in the backwater is also Ludwig Donath as a German café owner with Mae Clarke who plays a singer in his dive. Clarke is an anachronism here. Her character is supposed to the daughter of a Russian father and an American mother and Clarke's never seen the USA. She may never have seen it, but she sure sounds it. She must have listened to a lot of radio broadcasts and seen a lot of movies, especially Joan Blondell movies. Add a couple of downed Flying Tigers, Rick Vallin and Paul Bryar who is from, where else, Brooklyn and you have all the ingredients.Anna May Wong gives this film an extra couple of notches, but it's still a Poverty Row PRC film and that's never a good sign.

earlytalkie 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.