Roar of the Dragon

Very serious dramatic roles for Edward Horton and Zasu Pitts, who had both made so many comedies over their careers. A riverboat is stuck in an area in Manchuria, which is about to be raided by the bandit Voronsky, Captain Carson (Richard Dix) must lead the group out of danger. unfortunately for them, he seems to be pretty drunk a lot of the time! sound and picture are quite good, for such an early talkie. co-stars the Danish Dwili Andre (her first US role... but with silly, drawn-in, thin eyebrows. i'm sure some director thought that was the right thing to do.) and Arline Judge. kind of funny that Judge keeps talking about "Bridgeport"... she really was from Bridgeport, Connecticut. it's a fun, wild adventure, mostly because of the "exotic foreign locale"... Manchuria, which was probably stage 33 somewhere in hollywood. supposedly the suspense is keeping the bandits outside the hotel, but with their axes and guns, it looks like they could have entered at will... and when someone gets knocked off through the window, the rest of the group gathers around the dead body, without thought that the killer might still be right outside the window. it's pretty good, if you can overlook some loop holes. Directed by Wesley Ruggles. nominated for Cimarron the year before. Should probably mention that Ruggles was married to Arline Judge, and they made FOUR films together. Wes Ruggles and his brother Charlie had started in the early days of silent films, and carried on into the talkies. This is pretty good. quite the adventure story.