When Were You Born

1938 "Do the stars control the future?"
5.8| 1h5m| NR| en
Details

A San Francisco astrologer correctly predicts a ship passenger's death and then helps the police look for the murderer.

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Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
GazerRise Fantastic!
Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
GManfred Or, at least, the story's the thing, and this is a murder mystery - and the story is pretty good. At 65 minutes it goes by quickly, so the viewer must pay attention or something will be lost. Nowadays, we have DVR's and can rewind if needed - and it's needed. The solution hinges on a specific time frame and several characters give the times of their alibi, and it's hard to keep them straight.The plot is a good one, but much is made of the fact that Anna May Wong's character is an astrologist, which was very popular around the time this was produced. She has a habit of giving people the pros and cons of their zodiac sign after asking the title question, and it becomes tiresome. Her acting seems stilted, as though reciting from memory and not natural. In any case, you won't guess the murderer; as I said, the story is a good one. Two things; it is told at breakneck speed, and the time frames of the alibis are crucial to solving the murder. As I said in the beginning, pay attention, especially towards the end.
Kittyman When Were You Born (1938) is an non-credited remake of From Headquarters (1933). The plot is the same. The differences are WWYB introduces an astrologer to aid the police, while FH is a straight police procedural.While both are interesting "B" pictures, FH is, in my opinion, the better of the two. It has more stylish photography, moves along a bit faster, and has a somewhat better cast (though Margaret Lindsay appears in both films as a lead).Watch closely in this version, however, and you will see TV's The Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore) without his mask. (by Dr. Charles G. Waugh)
rickrudge When Were You Born? (1938)An interesting angle on the murder mystery genre adding astrology to the caper flick. It's a simple B movie, but very entertaining. It comes off kind serious with a mysterious Manley P. Hall telling us about astrology (sort of like Ed Wood style). Naturally, all twelve characters of the zodiac will be featured in this film.Beautiful Anna May Wong is the Chinese-American astrologer, Mei Lei Ming, who has a lot of insight to the people she meets. She meets Phil Corey (James Stephenson) on board a ship from China to San Francisco, U.S.A. and predicts that he will die within a couple of days. When Corey is killed, Miss Ming is one of the prime suspects.Soon a very doubting taurus, Inspector Jim Gregg (Charles C. Wilson) considers having Miss Ming hang around just to give her insights over the various suspects.
gridoon2018 I should know - I'm a firm non-believer in anything even remotely associated with astrology, but I still enjoyed "When Were You Born" - to a degree. Besides, if I were to take it too seriously, I should be offended: my zodiac sign - Libra - is represented by the most negative character in the film! But at least the skeptics in the audience are fairly represented too. The problem with the film is that it's too static - about 75% of the "action" happens inside one police station. But it makes clever use of flashbacks, and Anna May Wong, playing an astrology specialist who ends up offering valuable assistance to the police, gives more conviction to her lines than most other actresses would - and make no mistake, she is the star of this film; top-billed Margaret Lindsay's part is relatively small, third-billed Lola Lane's even smaller. **1/2 out of 4.