Secrets of Chinatown Film Review

This film is so low-budget that in one indoor scene, you can see their breath it is so cold. They could not even afford to heat up the set. During the 1930s there seemed to be a fascination with Orientalism in the movies with Charlie Chan, Mr. Moto, Mr. Wong and loads of low budget films that took place in the Chinatowns of America. It is interesting that at the same time the USA was not allowing any Chinese to immigrate to America. In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act which forbid immigration for ten years. This was then extended. In 1924 they went one better and prohibited all Asians from immigrating. This only changed when America and China became allies in WW2. Perhaps this is partly responsible for this enduring fascination with the mysterious Asian mystique - the forbidden, the unknown, the other. This film doesn't do anything to foster relations with the Chinese as they are portrayed as devilish and evil.

There is a cult built around the head of The Order of the Black Robe in which they hold ceremonies all with black hoods to disguise who they are and long flowing black robes. People who know too much receive a medallion and then death at the hands of Chinese assassins. A police detective investigating is killed as well. The police then bring in sleuth Donegal Dawn (Raymond Lawrence) who is some sort of Sherlock Holmes type. His younger brother Robert (Nick Stuart) has fallen for a girl working in a Chinese curio shop - a gweilo female named Zenobia who speaks perfect Cantonese - which we hear a lot of. Why would you work in a place like this, he asks. Leave before you are killed, she replies and a knife just misses him. Imagine how surprised he is when he sneaks into a ceremony looking for her and finds out she (Lucille Browne) is the star attraction in her crown and gowns - she is worshipped - the blonde Goddess. This was filmed in Vancouver by a Canadian company explaining the cold.