Director:
Richard Eichberg
Year: 1930
Rating: 6.0
Year: 1930
Rating: 6.0
Aka - Hai Tang
Aka - Road to Dishonor
Aka - Der Weg zur Schande
It gets confusing but this film was made in English, French and German. Surprisingly not Russian where the film takes place. There were different actors for all three versions except for one character - that of the Chinese entertainer played by Anna May Wong. In what was her first Talkie she had to speak all three languages! And the opening credits announce that this is her film with her name up on top of everything. You can be certain it wasn't an American film. Anna had left America for Europe in order to get better roles and she became a star. Even though the New York Times review at the time didn't think much of the film, he says of her "Miss Wong is one of the few cinema luminaries able to convey poignant emotion with restraint.". Sadly, after this she returned to America to play the daughter of Fu Manchu in Daughter of the Dragon. Though it is in fact a rather fun pulpy film.
I liked it more than the New York Times reviewer though all of his criticisms are correct. No one including Anna May Wong looks comfortable speaking, the dialogue is third rate and the plot is a bit old-fashioned. But I liked everything that surrounds the film. The sets are wonderful, the carousing in the night club by the Russian soldiers and the easy women who dance on the tables and on the men's laps and the excellent songs that break out constantly. As I have mentioned before - musicals were a big deal when Talkies came in - and even in a drama like this they squeeze in as many as they can. Songs from Wong on a few occasions (though I assume she is being dubbed as it is very operatic) and others. She is part of a Chinese cabaret act with other Chinese doing somersaults and spinning plates. And then of course there is Anna May Wong looking spectacular, desirable, sultry and exotic at times. Dressed in either sleek gowns or in her act bedecked with diamonds and a tiara plucking a string instrument. She doesn't really have a lot of dialogue - the camera just hovers over her.
She and her brother are part of a Chinese troupe in Russia and she has fallen in love with a Russian officer and he with her. The Grand Duke spots her act and orders the officer to bring her to the nightclub where he has a cozy private room with a piano player discreetly behind a partition. The Duke naturally makes a pass, she screams and her brother comes in and shoots the Duke in the arm. The brother is sentenced to death and she is willing to offer herself for his freedom. All very melodramatic and stodgy but who cares. The dvd has a lovely transfer of the film. The cast is in the film version titled Road to Dishonor on IMDB - no one that I have heard of.
Aka - Road to Dishonor
Aka - Der Weg zur Schande
It gets confusing but this film was made in English, French and German. Surprisingly not Russian where the film takes place. There were different actors for all three versions except for one character - that of the Chinese entertainer played by Anna May Wong. In what was her first Talkie she had to speak all three languages! And the opening credits announce that this is her film with her name up on top of everything. You can be certain it wasn't an American film. Anna had left America for Europe in order to get better roles and she became a star. Even though the New York Times review at the time didn't think much of the film, he says of her "Miss Wong is one of the few cinema luminaries able to convey poignant emotion with restraint.". Sadly, after this she returned to America to play the daughter of Fu Manchu in Daughter of the Dragon. Though it is in fact a rather fun pulpy film.
I liked it more than the New York Times reviewer though all of his criticisms are correct. No one including Anna May Wong looks comfortable speaking, the dialogue is third rate and the plot is a bit old-fashioned. But I liked everything that surrounds the film. The sets are wonderful, the carousing in the night club by the Russian soldiers and the easy women who dance on the tables and on the men's laps and the excellent songs that break out constantly. As I have mentioned before - musicals were a big deal when Talkies came in - and even in a drama like this they squeeze in as many as they can. Songs from Wong on a few occasions (though I assume she is being dubbed as it is very operatic) and others. She is part of a Chinese cabaret act with other Chinese doing somersaults and spinning plates. And then of course there is Anna May Wong looking spectacular, desirable, sultry and exotic at times. Dressed in either sleek gowns or in her act bedecked with diamonds and a tiara plucking a string instrument. She doesn't really have a lot of dialogue - the camera just hovers over her.
She and her brother are part of a Chinese troupe in Russia and she has fallen in love with a Russian officer and he with her. The Grand Duke spots her act and orders the officer to bring her to the nightclub where he has a cozy private room with a piano player discreetly behind a partition. The Duke naturally makes a pass, she screams and her brother comes in and shoots the Duke in the arm. The brother is sentenced to death and she is willing to offer herself for his freedom. All very melodramatic and stodgy but who cares. The dvd has a lovely transfer of the film. The cast is in the film version titled Road to Dishonor on IMDB - no one that I have heard of.