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.
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.