User reviews

The great Anna May Wong stars as a Chinese girl who is trying to track down her fathers killers after he is rubbed out for trying to stop the flow of illegal aliens. Wong the only Chinese American to star in films in the 1920's and 1930's. She exudes sensuality and was a damn fine actress to boot. Here she does it all as she goes from San Fransico to South America in trying to reveal the head of the smuggling ring. Its gritty and nasty in surprising ways especially for a code production. The smoldering sexuality of the dive in South America seems to have come from the gritty films of the late 1940's or the precode films of the 1930s. Frankly this is a lost treasure. This is a movie that is perfectly paced to keep you watching with twist and turn and odd twist. Only when a Deus ex Machina shows up towards the end that it shows its programmer heritage. The cast is a who's who of mid-level stars to be in Buster Crabbe, Charles Bickford, J Carol Nash and some Irishman named Anthony Quinn. This is 63 minutes of pure enjoyment. I can't recommend this enough, and while it ain't the best of the best, its near that.

...screams a headline at the beginning of the film. Quick! Somebody notify agents Scully and Mulder. No, not THOSE kinds of aliens!

A human-trafficking ring makes an offer a Chinese American San Francisco/Chinatown businessman cannot refuse, except that he does. For that, and for taking the evidence that he already has against the human trafficking ring to the feds, said trafficking ring kills him. His daughter (Anna May Wong), rather bitter about her father's murder not ardently being investigated by the feds he was trying to help, decides to go under cover in the tropics, using the only contact name she has - Hartmann - and ferret out the killers and traffickers herself. She runs into G-man Kim Lee (Philip Ahn) while doing this, and they team up to bring the criminals to justice. Along the way they encounter a very unlikely Mr. Big and an even more unlikely hero who steps in to help them save the day.

This may be one of my favorite B movies of the decade. Wong and Ahn are certainly unusual leads in an American film of the day, and they're both great in their roles. There's a surprising amount of violence, including people being dropped to their death out of a plane, shootings, and brutal beatings. J. Carroll Naish and Anthony Quinn are typecast as two of the bad guys, but I was surprised to see Buster Crabbe, with black hair and a mustache, as a particularly sadistic cohort.

Rather unintentionally funny moment - In the opening scene the two guys piloting a plane full of aliens headed for the United States have been spotted by a government plane, which is after them. The two tough guys are inexplicably wearing matching checkered ascots. Recommended - the movie, not the ascots.

These are indeed heady times for fans of the actress Anna May Wong. Not only are there two (2!) biographies of the woman in recent release, but a documentary of Anna May's life is purportedly in the works, a restored print of Wong's late silent classic "Piccadilly" has just been released, AND, for those lucky of us to live in NYC, an Anna May Wong retrospective has just unreeled in this town's Museum of Modern Art. Although hugely popular in the 1920s and '30s, up until recently Hollywood's first Asian actress of any kind of renown has languished in relative obscurity, known only to fans of old-timey movies...perhaps. When I told some coworkers that I was going to see some Anna May, I half expected them to make some remark about Japanese comics (anime). I have been a fan of Ms. Wong's for many years now, although that fandom has been largely based on just a handful of films, most especially the 1932 von Sternberg classic "Shanghai Express." Her part in this picture is not large, but she makes such a mysterious and exotic impression that that brief performance was enough to make a convert of me. With the exception of the 1949 film noir "Impact" and one or two others, though, it has been extremely hard for fans of this once-famous actress to see her other work. It was therefore with great anticipation that I attended the MoMA's double bill of two of Anna May's rare '30s work: "Dangerous to Know" and "Daughter of Shanghai." The first is a compact little B picture, in which Anna May is the kept mistress of crime boss Akim Tamiroff. It was a lot of fun, and very interesting, but the latter is the one that I really enjoyed. Anna May is without question the star of "DOS," and the picture, although admittedly in the B category, is as fun as can be. In this one, Ms. Wong plays the daughter of a Chinese shop owner in San Francisco. When her dad is killed by alien smugglers who are pressuring him into taking on a load of their human cargo, Anna May goes undercover to track down the bad guys. Her quest takes her to Central America, where she winds up taking a job as a dancer in one of the seediest dives you've ever seen on film. The owner of this joint is Charles Bickford, who is believed to be one of the heads of the smuggling operation. "DOS" features some surprisingly gritty action scenes, and some real cliffhanger moments. Ms. Wong is aided in her quest to smash the alien smugglers by a G-man played by Philip Ahn. I'd never seen Mr. Ahn play a "good guy" before; he was so often cast as a sneaky weasel type. Anyway, he's very effective in the role of Anna May's partner. J. Carrol Naish and Anthony Quinn (in a very early role) are both hissably fun as two of the nasty smugglers. It is really quite remarkable how much story and action are packed into this film's short, 63-minute running time. And for fans of Anna May Wong, the picture is heavenly. What a delight it is to see this charming actress take the lead role in a smashing action picture, and go undercover in that Central American sleazepit. The audience at the MoMA burst into spontaneous applause at the conclusion of this nifty B picture, and that applause was certainly merited. This is one fun hour at the movies!

If there was a role for an asian female from 1920 to 1950, Anna Wong was first in line to get it! she was actually born in Los Angeles, but could play so many foreign, exotic types. Co-stars Charles Bickford, Buster Crabbe, Anthony Quinn, Philip Ahn. someone is smuggling people into the US, and when they knock off her father, Lan Ying Lin (Wong) goes to rich old Mrs. Hunt (Cecil Cunningham) for help. everyone knows that "Hartman" is the guy smuggling people underground, but no-one seems to be able to find him or track him down. we go to Port O'Juan, where she sees the whole operation. Lan wants to take the ledgers and bring em back as evidence, but it will be dangerous. this is another film where we sail off to the exotic "south seas", but we're really on the back lot of hollywood. pretty good stuff. fun to tag along as the adventure unfolds. In the happy years between the depression and WW II.

Anna May Wong and Charles Bickford make this human-trafficking film work very well. There is a shocking scene at the very beginning of the film where a load of illegals are just dumped into the ocean to avoid legal problems with the air patrol. Anthony Quinn, in an early role, does the dumping. Philip Ahn, the Master in the Kung Fu series with David Carradine, plays an undercover cop, and Wong has her own agenda to take down the notorious human traffickers. An entertaining film from beginning to end.

Anna May Wong's father is killed because he will not cooperate with a gang that smuggles illegal Chinese emigrants into the US. Miss Wong goes undercover to help Federal agent Philip Ahn track down the mysterious head of the ring.

Paramount gave Miss Wong a push upward with top billing on this B movie directed by Robert Florey. She's certainly given a splashy entrance in a spectacular Chinese costume, but despite popping in and out as she goes dance hall girl somewhere in the islands back to the US, the story is diffuse. Intercut with her, we see Ahn's slow track dealing with slow-witted goons, and a large cast of performers adding attraction to the story: Charles Bickford, Buster Crabbe, Cecil Cunningham, J. Carrol Naish, Anthony Quinn, Evelyn Brent... even though there are a lot of Chinese-American performers here, they're almost all uncredited.

It's the same sort of story that Poverty Row producers had been telling for a couple of years, with the sort of gloss that Paramount could provide mostly coming from Charles Schoenbaum's photography. Clearly they were aiming at a sort of Von Sternberg look that lends this a pre-noir air, but the script is too straightforward for much more than an entertaining flick.

The central topic in this story is human traffic, in particular, one gang that is smuggling Chinese labour into the USA. The illegal aliens are brought in by plane or by sea and distributed through-out various communities where the gangs make a business an offer that they should not refuse or else. In San Francisco, shop owner Ching Wah Lee (Quan Lin) is approached by the gang but refuses to play along and take up the labour offer. That evening, he and his daughter, Anna May Wong (Lan Ying Lin) are invited to dinner by wealthy customer Cecil Cunningham (Mrs Hunt), who is hosting an undercover detective Philip Ahn (Kim Lee) who is in town to bust the people-smuggling crooks. However, they don't make it and here begins the tale of murder and revenge as Wong takes it upon herself to root out this particular gang and bring them to justice. Ahn has his methods and Wong has hers. They need to work together...

Quite a lot happens in this film so it is not lacking in action. It also has moments of suspense as well as a really cool club that I would love to hang out in. It's a cheap dive in a port on a small Central American island where significant shenanigans take place. This is where Wong joins a troupe of dancing girls and the atmosphere is hot and sleazy. "Nice'n'Sleazy does it" sang the Stranglers in homage to this club.

For some reason Ching Wah Lee isn't given a credit even though he is the trigger for the whole film and has a significant role. Outrageous! Also, why is Philip Ahn so far down the cast list - he is the leading man, for goodness sake!

The cast are ok - look out for Anthony Quinn as the ruthless pilot at the film's beginning, whose action on being tracked by a Government plane serves to illustrate that the cargo of people is nothing more than a $ sign.

This lack of care for fellow human beings is still going on today as seen very openly by the people smuggling gangs sending over 'migrants' in dinghies only to see them capsize in the waters with continual loss of life. I am shocked how we never put a solution in place to anything truly dangerous yet we obsess with trivial domestic health and safety laws, eg, you can't stand on a footstool without a second person being present in case you fall over! The world is indeed bonkers.

This film is about smugglers who take people from other parts of the world and bring them to the United States to work for others (sounds almost contemporary). Anna May Wong plays the daughter of Quan Lin, a successful merchant, who refuses to "buy" anyone for his business. He gets killed and his daughter narrowly escapes. This plays as a film noir, and it could even be considered a B movie, but it is pretty good. The plot thickens, there are a few surprises and then there is the beautiful, accomplished actress Anna May Wong. She was something special. I liked its pacing, and I feel it is a film you should watch, if you're into mystery and intrigue. Check it out.

DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI is unique among 1930s Hollywood features for its portrayal of an Asian-focused theme with two prominent Asian-American performers as leads. This was truly unusual in a time when white actors typically played Asian characters in the cinema. At best, Hollywood assigned some Asian roles to Asian performers and some to whites stars in the same film, with results that seem discordant today even if widely accepted at the time. DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI was prepared as a vehicle for Anna May Wong, the first Asian-American woman to become a star of the Hollywood cinema. Appearing in some 60 movies during her life, she was a top billed player for over twenty years, working not only in Hollywood, but also in England and Germany. In addition, she was a star of the stage and a frequent guest performer on radio, and would headline the first American television series concentrating on an Asian character, THE GALLERY OF MME. LIU-TSONG (Dumont, 1951).

Born in 1905, Wong was the daughter of a Chinese immigrant who ran a Los Angeles laundry. Her Chinese name, Wong Liu Tsong, was Cantonese for Frosted Yellow Willow. A career in the movies began in the typical manner of the time; she saw a local film crew at work and knew at that moment the life she wanted to pursue. She overcame family opposition and by 1922 had played the lead role, a Madame Butterfly-part, in THE TOLL OF THE SEA, the first Technicolor feature. As simultaneously a star, yet one whose roles were necessarily limited, at least in Hollywood's view, by ethnicity, Wong's career oscillated between major roles and character parts or exotic bits in Chinatown or far eastern scenes. Wong embodied a Chinese beauty that was new to Hollywood films and beguiled spectators in Europe and the United States, who accepted her in any type of role, whether playing hero, villain, or victim. The frequency with which portraits and articles about Wong appeared in magazines, despite the many relatively small roles and secondary billing, demonstrated the incredible popularity she had with the mainstream Caucasian audience. Wong was typically described as an intelligent, independent woman whose life was suspended between the two worlds of East and West, invoking the racial mythology of the time. Nonetheless, she frequently found herself losing roles to white performers that should have been hers. The evidence of press coverage strongly suggests that moviegoers had more progressive inclinations than the conservative studio chiefs and producers who made the casting decisions. Wong's star was in the ascendant with the coming of sound, with a number of vehicles written expressly for her. In PICCADILLY (1929), she plays a nightclub vamp. The Sherlock Holmes story A STUDY IN SCARLET (1933) was changed to feature Wong. She appeared in Edgar Wallace's play On the Spot, about a gangster and his Chinese mistress, later filmed as DANGEROUS TO KNOW (1938), a masterpiece largely forgotten because it is out of television circulation and held by only one archive. DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI was another picture written for her, as Paramount in attempted to revive her star luster in the wake of a well-publicized trip she made to China.

No other late Wong movie so strongly situates her at the center of the action as DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI. She plays a woman attempting to uncover the murderer of her father, in the process exposing racketeers illegally smuggling Chinese aliens into the United States. The whole picture was shot in a month, and suffers from the budgetary limitations along with the use of many thriller clichés. The plot admittedly resembles a screen serial by placing the heroine in a series of perilous predicaments, but this was also one of the few forms available at the time for a woman to display her own courage and self-sufficiency. One of the sequences reveals her dancing skill, which was seen in many of her films, including THE Chinese PARROT (1928) and LIMEHOUSE BLUES (1934). Wong's costar and on-screen romantic interest in DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI was Philip Ahn. He plays perhaps the first Asian FBI agent seen on the screen, a part all the more interesting since the immigration racket is shown as controlled by Caucasians but broken by members of the very race it exploits. Ahn was the same age as Wong, and they were High School friends, but he had begun his screen career only two years earlier, in 1935. At the last minute, Paramount wisely assigned DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI to director Robert Florey, a French emigre who was also an enthusiastic devotee of Far Eastern art. Many of his masks, swords, costumes, and furnishings decorate the sets in this picture. Florey had directed in Switzerland, France, Morocco, England, and Germany, and earlier in the same year as DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI, he had made his second journey to China and Japan. Florey hoped to interest Hollywood in making movies on location, spending several months shooting footage from the streets of Shanghai to the Japanese film studios, and some of that film still survives. He had scripted A STUDY IN SCARLET for Wong in 1932, and he directed her next picture, DANGEROUS TO KNOW. In the four years after DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI, Wong's career declined once more. During much of the 1930s and into the 1940s she used her name recognition to speak out against Japan's war against her ancestral land and on behalf of Chinese relief. Two 1943 war films for a poverty row studio, BOMBS OVER BURMA and LADY FROM CHUNGKING, depicted the role of the Chinese woman in the conflict. They also marked Wong's last screen appearance as a movie star. Her remaining roles were sporadic over the final fifteen years of her life, and she died at a relatively youthful age, in 1961. Only in recent years has Wong's importance been recognized, and much research is needed into her life and films and those of other Asian pioneers during the Hollywood studio era.

First and foremost, it was very refreshing to see the treatment of Asian-Americans in this film. There are no stereotypes or actors in yellow face, and the characters are articulate, sophisticated, and intelligent. The two main characters unraveling a smuggling/extortion racket (the fabulous Anna May Wong and Philip Ahn) are of Asian descent but the parts could have been written as Caucasians. Meanwhile it's a group of white people who run this racket and brutally murder people. It's no wonder that Wong was so happy with this film, her first with Paramount, and said "I like my part in this picture better than any I've ever had before...This picture gives Chinese a break - we have sympathetic parts for a change."

Overall it's a B movie in terms of production value and the plot is simple, but it's certainly entertaining, there are moments of tension, and of course it also has Anna May Wong. She looks radiant while wearing a number of gowns, most of which she had purchased herself in China on her travels there the year before, which was a big event in her life. A great example of her acting ability is her facial reaction when she sees what's happened to her father in the film, and we also get to see her silky dance moves when her character goes undercover as a dancer in a tropical nightclub. I adore her and everything she fought for, and this film feels like a vindication of sorts, after the bitter pill of being passed over for 'The Good Earth.'

You can really feel the heat and seaminess of the environment her character finds herself in, and I thought director Robert Florey did a good job given the scale of the picture. Some of his camera angles and shots of things like people being dumped into the bay are quite good. The representation of women is strong too - aside from Wong, the kingpin of the crime organization is a tough woman played by Cecil Cunningham. You can also look for 22 year old Anthony Quinn as well. Quite enjoyable for me, and I wished it had gone on for longer than 62 minutes.

Quote: White nightclub patron, dismissive upon seeing Anna May Wong: "I don't speak Chinese." Anna May Wong: "I speak English."

One of the most frustrating things about being a classic film fan is keenly knowing how many talented people's careers were inhibited by the racism of the period. Anna May Wong was a gifted actress with a unique, beautiful face, and yet her roles were often limited due to her Chinese heritage. DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI was allegedly her favorite of her films because for once the Chinese characters were the heroes-- and they were actually played by Asian characters rather than white actors in yellowface.

DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI is a better than average potboiler. It's fast-paced like a serial and the atmosphere is one of heady adventure. But it is Anna May Wong who is the central attraction, outthinking her enemies and kicking ass. I really loved her character and am so glad this film still exists. It's such a shame opportunities like this were so few for Wong.

With talk lately in Hollywood about the contribution of veteran Asian American actors, particularly those who blazed the trail for many others, comes the name of Anna May Wong. A beautiful, talented and most underrated actress, born in Los Angeles. She shines in this adventure, which was especially written for her by Paramount Pictures.

DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI has resurfaced of late as a lost classic, though don't be fooled, its been around for years. Also of historical significance, due to the fact that when it was produced (in 1937), white actors generally played Asian characters on screen. This was Anna May Wong's vehicle all the way.

Wong plays an undercover detective of sorts, out to expose the killers of her father, notorious smugglers linked to a human-trafficking ring. Wong is aided by another popular Asian actor, Philip Ahn. The story becomes even more fascinating when Wong travels to a small island, off the coast of Central America, landing a job as a dancer at a bar which is a front for the smugglers.

Without giving too much away, there's a surprise ending as to who the leader of the mysterious ring is, making this a whole lot of fun. Can you guess it?

Exceptionally directed by the king of B films, Robert Florey, who worked his magic with this cast. Co-starring rough and ready Charles Bickford, young Buster Crabbe (just before fame as FLASH GORDON), veteran actress Cecil Cunningham and J. Carrol Naish. Also look for Anthony Quinn in a very early role.

Wong followed this film with another crime classic, DANGEROUS TO KNOW, also directed by Florey.

Always on remastered dvd for a new generation of collectors.

Smugglers can be heroes, but smugglers of people, or traffickers, usually are villains of the worst kind.

"Daughter of Shanghai" shows traffickers at their murderous worst. There is, in fact, one scene copied from the worst days of cross-Atlantic slave-trading.

With the Biden-Harris administration's wide-open southern border, human trafficking is again a consideration, and is again a subject of concern -- at least for people outside the administration.

The trafficking of this movie is different: All the "illegal immigrants" are eager to be smuggled into these United States. They are not kidnapped and are not drug smugglers. They are, apparently, people who expect to find jobs in order to better themselves and their families.

Unfortunately for them, the people in charge of the operation essentially sell them, making another profit from the people and businesses who buy the immigrants, and paying their new workers just room and board.

There is a lot of drama and horror, and a daughter of a man murdered because he refused to accept the immigrants sets out to find her father's killer.

Anna May Wong is being featured on TCM this month and "Daughter of Shanghai" was presented on 19 May 2022. If you missed it, I do hope you can find it somewhere. If only for the excellent performers, this is a film to watch.

DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI (Paramount, 1937), directed by Robert Florey, is one of several similar themed stories produced at that time regarding Chinese smuggling of human cargo, and the dangers revolving through this illegal activity. It stars Anna May Wong in the title role in a story not set in Shanghai but that as a daughter of a Chinaman living in San Francisco. As with many second features produced by Paramount, DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI is relatively known for being a rare instance of having Asian actors playing Asian characters, an assignment well performed by Anna May Wong and Philip Ahn.

The story begins with newspaper clippings montaged on screen with headlines dealing with a smuggling ring of human cargo. The story gets underway as two pilots, Harry Morgan (Anthony Quinn) and James Lang (John Patterson), are seen transferring Chinese aliens in the back of the airplane into San Francisco, and are being pursued by a government airplane. To destroy the evidence and lose $6,000 , the human cargo on board get released through a flip floor door below where they all drop to to the ocean left to drown. Kim Lee (Philip Ahn), of the department of justice, is hired to investigate these crimes. Lan Ying Lin (Anna May Wong) is introduced as the daughter of Quin Lin (Ching Wah Lee), a successful merchant of San Francisco's Chinese Art Importation. As he is assisting Mary Hunt (Cecil Cunningham), one of his influential customers he's known for eleven years, Quin is approached in the next room by Frank Barden (J. Carroll Naish) and Andrew Steele (Larry "Buster" Crabbe) suggesting he work with them in their smuggling ring. Naturally he refuses and has men escorted out. Mrs. Hunt assists Quin by inviting him to her home to meet with a man who can help him. On their way by taxi to Mrs. Hunt's estate, both father and daughter are taken to the wrong part of town where the taxi enters into the back of the truck labeled Lambert's Van Storage Co. Where the victims become targets to a shooting. With Quin Lin killed and Lan Ying left for dead, she survives and manages to break away without being seen as the taxi is released and dumped into the ocean. After coming to Mrs. Hunt's home , Lan Ying meets with Chinese G-Man, Kim Lee (Philip Ahn), a man who could assist her. She then decides to go out on her own to locate a man known Hartman, who might be the ring leader of the organization. Tracing Otto Hartman (Charles Bickford) to a cabaret on a Central American island of Port O Juan, she is hired as a dancer called "The Daughter of Shanghai," while at the same time trying to gather information from a book that may include the evidence she needs. How Lan Yin will be able to get on the Jenny Hawks boat bound for San Francisco becomes another matter of life and death if captured. Co-starring Evelyn Brent (Olga Derey, Hartman's jealous mistress); Fred Kohler Sr., Guy Bates Post, Pierre Watkin, Frank Sully, Ernest Whitman and Mae Busch (of Laurel and Hardy fame).

For Anna May Wong's leading role, DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI contains enough ingredients to hold interest throughout its fast-paced 63 minutes. Crucial scenes include Wong's two near death experiences, along with characters making viewers wonder which one(s) who can or who cannot be trusted. Though Charles Bickford gets second billing under Anna May Wong in the credits, his character is minor, appearing late into the story, while Philip Ahn, billed ninth, with enough scenes to be classified as her co-star. It is also interesting finding Cecil Cunningham, usually playing female managers or wisecracking characters, often without screen credit, to have a significant role of a wealthy matron, and Buster Crabbe, billed as Larry Crabbe, playing a villain rather than the hero.

Rarely shown on commercial television for decades, broadcast on New York City television's WPIX, Channel 11, in 1973, DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI has become a worthy rediscovery when it premiered on Turner Classic Movies June 10, 2008, with re-broadcasts later as part of the topic of "Asian Actors on Film" and Star of the Month tribute to Anna May Wong.

While Wong had leading parts in other Paramount features (1937-1939), DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI happens to be the best of the lot. Never distributed on video cassette, a copy on DVD can be found from a private collector. (**1/2).