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Shadow of Chinatown
Yellow Phantom
USA 1936
produced by
Sam Katzman for Victory
directed by Robert F.Hill
starring Bela Lugosi, Herman Brix (= Bruce Bennett), Joan Barclay, Luana Walters, Maurice Liu, Charles King, William Buchanan, Forrest Taylor, Jack Cowell, James B.Leong, Henry T.Tung, Paul Fung, George Chan, Moy Ming, Victor Adamson, John Elliott, Harrison Greene, Henry Hall, Richard Loo, Bruce Mitchell, Roger Williams
story by Rock Hawkey (= Robert F.Hill), screenplay by Isadore Bernstein, Basil Dickey, special dialogue by William Buchanan, musical direction by Lee Zahler
serial
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Beautiful Eurasian Sonya Rokoff (Luana Walters), who runs a European
trade company, wants to force authorities to shut down
businesses in Chinatown San Francisco and this way eliminate competition, and to that end she has hired
Eurasian scientist Victor Poten (Bela Lugosi) - not knowing that Poten is
actually a dangerous megalomaniac who hates Caucasians and Asians alike
and who wants to have vengeance on simply everybody, and plans to do so
with a series of increasingly dangerous inventions ... and before you know
it, Sonya has gone from being Poten's superior to one of his servants ...
and soon she begins to believe she has put her trust in the wrong man.
Poten's main enemy though is Martin Andrews (Herman Brix), a novelist
who knows his ways around Chinatown thanks to his Willy Fu (Maurice Liu),
who always seems to have a Chinese proverb on his lips. However, Poten
uses many a murder method described in Andrews' latest book which makes
police Captain Walters (Forrest Taylor) think that Andrews is behind the
Chinatown crimewave - which forces Andrews to investigate on his own
behalf, helped by his butler and by nosey girl reporter Joan Whiting (Joan
Barclay).
Eventually, Sonya can persuade Poten to move his operations from San
Francisco to Los Angeles by ship, but fortunately, Andrews and conpany are
on that same ship following a lead, even if they have no idea who they are
actually trailing. During the journey, Poten puts both Sonya and her
henchman Grogan (Charles King), who has tried to kill him to save Sonya
from his evil grip, under his hypnotic spell, but Andrews and company get
a hold of hypnotized Sonya and bring her back to San Francisco to release
her from Poten's spell - and now she tells them everything, including
facts about Poten's hideout and his plans.
Poten realizes that his enemies are hot on his trail, so he hides of
all places in Andrews' house and tries to kill Andrews one more time - but
this time Andrews is saved by Sonya who selflessly gives her life to save
his ...
Poten makes a hasty escape, drives his car into the harbour and is
presumed dead ... but of course he isn't but reappears in the disguise of
a waiter at a dinner the Chinatown merchants hold for Andrews - but
Andrews has kept his eyes open and arrests him on the spot ... and of
course he gets the girl, nosey reporter Joan Whiting, in the end ...
While this serial is far from great - essentially it lacks any special
setpieces, stunts or plot elements - it's not too bad either, a rather
routine crime drama with the occasional (very subdued) sci-fi touches. Not
really worth your while on one hand, but not too much of a waste of time
on the other.
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