Anna May Wong was an almost leading lady, being blocked by production code rules disallowing white leading men from getting down with her Asian hotness. And a film with two Asian leads was not fit for mainstream honky audience. She did what she could, but it was a losing cause. TCM did a special on Wong, interviewing Nancy Kwan and showing a string of her movies. Daughter of Shanghai came on so I watched it.
Old friends Anthony Quinn, J. Carrol Naish, and Buster Crabbe play heavies, but you would hardly recognize them. Philip Ahn played the Chinese federal agent also investigating. Ahn had a long career, frequently playing random uncredited Asian guy. He was actually Korean and received death threats during world war 2 because, you know.
Daughter of Shanghai is a fair if unremarkable crime drama. Anna May was charming if two dimensional. I would like to see her in more meaty roles, but time will tell if that ever happens. There was a small bit of mystery and a good pay off. And it was amusing to watch Chinese characters fight a bunch of whities to stop illegal immigration. AMRU 2.5.
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