"Chinatown Nights" (1929) from its title sounds as if it's going to be an early "B" meller with grade "Z" actors and the host of Hollywood Chinese and Japanese who played extras in "yellow peril" films which proliferated between 1915-1940. Well, it is about tong wars, and it's certainly a meller, but this happens to be a transition film (between silent and sound) that comes with loads of baggage, was directed by William A. Wellman, stars Wallace Beery, Florence Vidor, and Warner Oland (with many others), began as a finished silent, was both re-shot in many parts and dubbed in most others, goat-glanded in a spot or two (very little remains of any of that), and ends up being photographically brilliant - an early film-noir is not incorrect - and not only quite watchable, but invitingly so - and, in the end, good movie-making! But, this will bulge out your eyeballs: Wallace Beery plays a romantic part, and not only does it well, it may be about the best Wallace Beery acting I've ever seen. He's tremendous! None of the eye mugging or voice tricks he uses ubiquitously in most of his talkies. None! He's actually quite clean looking, slimmer than usual, half-way good looking, well-groomed. Florence Vidor (who's always good looking, and here ravishingly dressed) works nearly as well, except in a few scenes that began with her acting the silent parts, but the sound was dubbed by Nella Walker when Vidor wouldn't come back and dub her scenes. (Sound like Louise Brooks a bit??!!) Vidor retired after making this film...okay... Warner Oland is a bit more jaunty than usual. Not until his voice jauntiness and jaunty words in the Chan movies is he this...jaunty...
The film begins on an incredulous note: the leader in Chinatown (USA) is a white man: Beery. Because of arranged hits - by both sides - Beery decides to even the score, this, while Oland is deciding to decide the score in his favor for good. Meanwhile, a very bored uptown girl, Vidor, comes to Chinatown to see how the other poor/wild/Chinese half lives. She comes as a murder is committed before her eyes, meets Beery, becomes more than intrigued, eventually falls in love with him, moves in with him (yes, this is a Pre-Code's Pre-Code and doesn't leave anything out!), sees she can't stay because "it'll never work out", gets let go (so to speak), becomes amazed that she can't go because she truly loves Beery, becomes disenchanted with the life Beery leads, gets thrown out, becomes almost a bum(messe?), tries to drink herself silly, becomes sick, nearly dies - but I won't let you know the ending. Suffice it to say the ending nearly seems tacked on. It's not a disappointment as much as it is...well, no, I won't say. You watch.
Beery is amazing in this film. Vidor's a pleasure to watch, though some of the dubbing is wobbly where she's dubbed. Oland is always fine. The rest of the cast, especially Jack McHugh who plays The Shadow, is really great. But why shouldn't it be? It includes Jack Oakie as a stuttering news-news-news-newspaper m-m-man, Tetsu Komai as Beery's watch-out guy, Richard Cramer, Willie Fung, Broderick O'Farrell, Bess Flowers (with a line or two!), and others who play flawlessly. One other thing shows up here: a lot of very violent scenes. One in particular is heartbreaking. None of the violence is grade "D" exploitation, either; it's very real and it's very much a part of the plot and it's strikingly well done.
A real find, not perfect, but a joy to watch anyway. If you're a Wellman fan, you'll see some precursors to things he did two years later in "The Public Enemy" and some things he'd already done in "Wings" a year or two previously. He has a very masculine directing style, and he's very sure of his direction and editing. It shows. Recommended!
