UnowPriceless hyped garbage

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

delriosong This review contains spoilersThis film is a propaganda piece to highlight China's efforts to fight the Japanese. It focuses on a small group of strange companions traveling by bus to Chung King (Chongqing) in Southwest China. Anna May Wong stars as Lin Ying, an agent for the Chinese government travel under the guise of a school inspector. The group arrive at a monastery that serves as a bed a breakfast. While there the driver discovers that someone has stole the distributor from the bus. When a shady passenger who witnessed the act ends up with a knife in his back while no one sees anything is a convenient plot hole.Now it's up to Lin Ying and the Head Monk with assistance from the bus driver to foil the Japanese spy among them save an important convoy coming into the interior of China from Burma.Let's just break this film down by the numbers and let the chips fall where they may: A) Plot -- At least one plot hole too large to ignore -- 3 B) Characters -- Stereotypical portrayals of Chinese and an Arab character, additionally the good guys are brave and bold while the bad guys prove craven in the end -- 3 C) Acting -- Anna May Wong is charming and Nedrick Young as Slim Jenkins, the bus driver seems like a character one might know -- 6 D) Script -- The dialog is just a little too pumped-up with propaganda 1942 style -- 4 E) Direction -- A conventional job -- 5 F) Cinematography -- Many of the faces seem over lit in a number of scenes (My copy is not restored) -- 3 G) Editing -- Conventional but interesting when the agent was revealed to be a coward, used footage from actual combat which is near Ed Wood like in its continuity failure -- 4 H) Production Design -- B reel quality and quantity -- 4 I) Costume Design -- a pretty good effort, convincing -- 6 J) Stunts -- N/A K) Special & Visual Effects -- N/A L) Music -- a good score which helped set and sustain mood very well -- 7 M) Sound -- The sound on my copy was fairly bad with a lot of obvious damage, seems like it would be fine in 1942 or restored -- 5 N) Entertainment Value -- 4 Average 4.500. Call it 5. Pop some corn and enjoy what it offers.This film features combat violence and three total killings and is not rated by the MPPA

winner55 Some B movies transcend, others lower themselves into the "so bad t's funny' category. But most fall into the general category of 'good B-movie" - entertaining but forgettable.This film can be enjoyed as a good B-movie, If one doesn't know much of film history, there it ends - a solid B- movie from the early '40s.But pay attention! I've watched this film several times - it's actually difficult to watch, the scene where the young boy gets wasted by Japanese machine gun fire is not fun. But the images keep pulling me along.This is a great film, for two reasons. First, director Lewis, cinematographer Cline and editor Henkel are using the film to work out knowledge of film history that more mainstream studios would not have allowed then - Sergei Eisentein's influence is all over the film.Secondly, Anna May Wong - a great actress relegated to small parts as the 'sultry Asian' - she is truly magnificent here, this performance would have won an Oscar for any other actress at a later time.Yes it's still a B-movie plot and much of the dialog has to conform to that. But so much of this is rich in construction and detail that I insist it remains a classic - unrecognized but undeniable.

dbborroughs Teacher in a Chinese school goes on the road to uncover axis spies in China. Ending up in a monastery she and her fellow travelers witness the bombing of a convoy of trucks and it becomes clear that someone among them is a spy. Good wartime spy drama suffers from some padding in the driving scenes and an opening sequence of teacher Anna Mae Wong and her students that ends on a bathic note with an air raid with a conclusion that was probably over done when the film was made. Early flaws aside once the film gets on the road and gets to the monastery this is a good little thriller. To be certain its formulaic at times but there are a couple of twists ( for example how the spy gets the messages out for example and the fate of the foul villain) that make this worth your time (especially on a double bill with something else).

ksf-2 Anna May Wong is a Chinese school teacher Lin Yang, who is also a spy for the "good guys" during WW II. She is traveling with an international group, who must discover who is leaking information to the Japanese bombers. The story is pretty good, but the sound quality is poor in parts of the film, with quite a bit of static in the soundtrack. Also lots of stock wartime footage thrown in. I was quite impressed at how the women could keep their hair and makeup just perfect on this long, hard roadtrip. Leslie Denison ( Roger Howe ) was a busy guy in those days - made 12 films in 1942, and 14 in 1943, in large and small roles. Wong had just made Lady from Chunking, the year before, another Alexander/Stern production about wartime China. Astute viewers will recognize the large, annoying Dan Seymour (Brogranza), who had played Captain Renard in To Have and Have Not. Too bad they didn't give him a larger role in this film - might have helped spruce it up. Connie Leon, who was actually British, provides the only laughs as the Chinese customs agent who taunts each person in the group as they are questioned when leaving town. This was just the third film for Ned Young (Slim Jenkins), and only the second credited role for lovely blonde Teala Loring, who seems to be the daughter of Doctor somebody or other, going to Chunking to check on him. Entertaining film, quite short at 65 minutes. It was a little odd... in the credits for the film, they use the PRC symbol for "producers releasing corp", but that's also the abbreviation for "Peoples Republic of China"...