The Rainbow Pass

Rainbow Pass, The (1937)

** (out of 4)

Carey Wilson narrates this mildly interesting but extremely flawed short that was put into theaters shortly before MGM's THE GOOD EARTH. In the film we are told that all groups of people in China enjoy the theatre and we go inside one of these places to see a performance of "The Rainbow Pass", the story of a woman who challenges the man who killed her husband to a battle. There's quite a bit to enjoy in this short but for the most part I don't think it really succeeds at what it's trying to do. There's no doubt that it's trying to throw some attention to the Paul Muni flick even though the film isn't ever said directly there are several moments where "the good earth" is said, often times aimed at the Chinese people. For the most part Tourneur's direction is top-notch as he's able to build a pretty good atmosphere with the production of the play given a lot of great details and it's certainly more interesting that the side plot of the Chinese people and their love for the theater. Just about all of this side plot is overlooked and in the end what's here is pretty useless as we're just never given enough details to find it interesting.