Chu Chin Chow

A British screen musical ... from the 1930s? Yes, and it stars Anna May Wong! VCI Entertainment has released an incredible 3 DVD collectors set containing restorations of the original (102 minute) version of the British film CHU CHIN CHOW (1934), along with the shorter 1953 American release of the same film (re-titled ALI BABA NIGHTS and targeting a "kiddie matinee" audience, it cuts out most of the spice--and the music). The set also features generous photo galleries, artist bios, an Arabian Nights-themed Popeye cartoon, loads of other extras and another British feature film of the 1930s, Karl Grune's ABDUL THE DAMNED, starring Fritz Kortner who plays the bandit chief, Abu Hassan, in CHU CHIN CHOW. Ace film restorer, Jay Allan Fenton, supervised the project and it is a welcome addition to the expanding digital library of historically and artistically important films available to anyone with access to a DVD player. (Sound and image on these films can be less than pristine, but still almost miraculous considering their age and rarity.) It is also a boon to aficionados of the sublime Anna May Wong. Novelist Evelyn Waugh once wrote that it seemed absurd "that plays of oriental setting should have to be manufactured" for Wong, but CHU CHIN CHOW was not hatched as a starring vehicle for the Chinese American actress. Combining elements of musical comedy and pantomime, CHU CHIN CHOW was a venerable British show biz institution by the time it reached the screen in 1934. With a story by Oscar Asche and music by Frederic Norton, the stage version was first produced at His Majesty's Theatre on August 3, 1916 and ran for five years and a (then record) total of 2238 performances. There was a silent version of the musical shot in 1925 (go figure!), so the 1934 film is theoretically a re-make. British illustrator and writer, Osbert Lancaster, recalled in his memoir, With An Eye To The Future, his mother's "slightly puritanical" attitudes toward playgoing. He notes "musical comedies and revues were regarded with marked disfavour as being certainly trivial and probably immoral," but that "exception was made in favour of CHU CHIN CHOW on account of its oriental setting." Bathed in exoticism and set in a far off place and time, it seems the play, and later, the film's "oriental setting" gave uptight "slightly puritanical" British audiences license to enjoy a bit of "immoral" fun. The Gainsborough Picture, filmed at Islington by Walter Forde, is a campy orientalist trifle, based on Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, distinguished by Hollywood style production numbers (rare for British films of this vintage), over-the-top costumes and characterizations, and the fantastic set design of Hungarian-born Erno Metzner (who also designed the sets for W.B. Pabst's German silent THE DIARY OF A LOST GIRL, starring the American actress Louise Brooks). Cinematography is by German Expressionist vet, Mutz Greenbaum (AKA Max Green), and the film seems at times more naturalistic in detail than American films of the same type and vintage, but at others far more theatrical and stylized. The ethnic portrayals (by an international cast) are strictly of the period. The film is further distinguished by the luminous presence of Anna May Wong, who plays the shimmering Zahrat. The role is reminiscent of her turn as the Mongol spy in THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD (1925), and she brings to it the same dance-like grace and willowy bearing. In CHU CHIN CHOW Wong is given opportunity to flaunt her exoticism and parade her potent sexuality. She seems somehow utterly natural and unselfconscious in the part--no matter how flagrantly over-the-top the character of Zahrat. In this pantomime-based role, we're acutely aware of the actress' mastery of controlled gesture, expression and attitude. As always, Wong is so adept at projecting herself, and creating a vivid visual image of character, that we cannot keep our eyes off of her when she's on screen. Once again, Wong steals the show-and undoubtedly some hearts-without even trying. It has been reported that British audiences were appalled by her harsh L.A. accent, yet as early as 1930, Evelyn Waugh wrote, "We have learned from her 'talky' that she has an excellent speaking voice" and goes on to praise her "balance of modesty and refinement." She sounds fine here, speaking in the low, British inflected theatrical voice she employed for the remainder of her career. Thanks to Jay Allan Fenton, and the folks at VCI Entertainment for making these films available to the public. Accessibility of Wong materials has been meager, but now it seems we're witnessing the opening of a treasure trove of long unseen films (another superior British film featuring Wong, PICCADILLY, was recently released by Milestone Collection). It is fortunate that these films are finally coming to light again after being buried in the vaults for so long. This release is truly an embarrassment of riches for fans of Wong, and anyone interested in world cinema.

Our daughter really didn't understand it, but for us, it was magnificent.

It boasts a 3 disc special edition, but it's exactly special features. It's 3 movies. It has "Chu Chin Chow" and the American cut down version (with less singing) called "Ali Baba Nights" and the last disc is a Fritz Kortner movie called "Abdul the Damned." I had really hoped it was just "Chu Chin Chow" (with maybe the Americanized version) and a lot of fun extras on the production or on Anna May Wong. Like many Wong movies, she's not the main character, but she still does enough to make it a fun movie. Fritz Kortner's performances are rather hammy and silly and he talks very slowly (Capra would have fired him). All in all, you could do worse. I should have gotten the "Bombs Over Burma"/"Lady from Chungking" combo pack instead. What I'm really waiting for is an American DVD of "Shanghai Express."

Has to be seen to be believed, heard too. Truly one for the record books.

Oscar Ashe and Frederic Norton's musical retelling of "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves," "Chu Chin Chow," made into a 1934 British film by Walter Forde, doesn't withstand the test of time. If anything, the movie version of this 1916 London stage show illustrates how the musical has changed over the decades. In the years of "Chu Chin Chow's" success, the musical comedy was a relatively undemanding form. In both Britain and America, popular musical shows used rather thin, breezy plots, stories that served primarily as a vehicle for the songs -- pop hits which were expected to be sung in concerts and over the radio long after the show had finished its theatrical run. So entrenched was this tradition of the musical theatre, that very few shows before World War II strove to develop more substantial stories, and those that did have become enduring classics to postwar audiences: Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's "Show Boat" (1927), George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" (1935), and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's "Pal Joey" (1940). The stage musical that changed the form into one that regularly developed the story on a level equal to the songs was Rodgers and Hammerstein's phenomenally successful "Oklahoma!" (1943). Regrettably, "Chu Chin Chow" is not part of this more demanding evolution of the musical. Instead of employing its musical numbers to advance plot and character, "Chu Chin Chow" sings about rather arbitrary subjects not directly related to story progression, and then distracts the viewer with its Arabian Nights-style pageantry. The musical's lack of cohesiveness is exemplified by its very title. If a narrative is titled "Chu Chin Chow," after one of its characters, the audience would reasonably expect that character to be significant in some way, whether it's as the protagonist or as a thematic presence throughout the story (e.g., James Joyce's "Ulysses"). But who is Chu Chin Chow? He's the murder victim of the musical's main antagonist, Abu Hasan (Fritz Kortner), and whose identity the bad guy then adopts for only part of the narrative. (I'm led to believe by the DVD's supplemental materials that the character of Chu Chin Chow was somewhat larger in the stage show than in the film, but hardly more significant.) Not only that, but the musical's Chinese title misleadingly suggests that the story is set in East Asia, rather than in the Middle East. This would be like Rodgers and Hammerstein titling their Oklahoma-set musical "South Philly." When "Chu Chin Chow" was re-released in 1953, the film's distributor chopped out all the musical numbers and rechristened it "Ali Baba Nights" (included on the DVD), a less deceptive title. This should surprise no one. With the arguable exception of the love songs sung between the romantic leads, Nur-al-din Baba (John Garrick) and Marjanah (Pearl Argyle), the songs are intrusions onto the story. For example, "The Cobbler's Song" is a relatively long number given to a character whose function in the story is minimal; the song comes off as an extensive digression. As for Ali Baba (George Robey), he's given very few numbers, and his central showpiece, "Anytime's Kissing Time," is sung for polygamous reasons to a woman who is not his wife -- not something that will endear him to the audience. Indeed, the seemingly arbitrary use of non-germane songs by minor characters emphasizes "Chu Chin Chow's" lack of focus. What is the central narrative thread? Who is the main character? Is it Ali Baba? He begins the film as its most active character but then grows rather inactive by its conclusion. Is it Nur-al-din and Marjanah? They play a major role in the climax but have comparatively little impact upon the story until then. Is it Abu Hasan? Although Kortner plays the role with over-the-top gusto, Hasan is a hard character to like, and the narrative is too light and airy to demand that the audience plumb the dark depths of identifying with a bad guy. The movie's razzle-dazzle Arabian Nights spectacle may distract us momentarily from these questions, but it can't rescue a movie sadly in need of a stronger narrative arc. The only reason to watch "Chu Chin Chow" is to behold Anna May Wong's performance as Zahrat, the slave who begins as Hasan's spy and lover, but who ends the story with different loyalties. The movie is an all-too-rare chance to see the underutilized Chinese American actress in a prominent role, and perhaps the film's most important character. But even Wong's admirable efforts aren't enough to reclaim "Chu Chin Chow" for the thoughtful viewer. In keeping with the film's flamboyant tone, Wong joins the other actors in chewing the scenery and otherwise exaggerating her emotions; this is disappointing because her best performances are wonders of subtlety and restraint. Also, despite her centrality to the first half and climax of the movie, Wong spends much of the film's second half off-screen. "Chu Chin Chow" might have made for a more enduring tale if the narrative had made Zahrat the clear protagonist from the start and didn't waste so much time on Ali Baba and the other characters, who only distract the rambling storyline with expendable tangents. As an uncommon chance to savor the screen presence of Anna May Wong in a lavish-for-its-time British extravaganza, "Chu Chin Chow" holds some modest rewards. But the film is, first and foremost, an artifact of the kind of musical that stronger and more story-driven Broadway offerings surpassed long ago.

A very interesting woman. With interesting history. She was very beautiful, and born in an era, that was not necessarily kind to her.

Although this DVD says it's "digitally remastered," that only means that it was transferred from film to the digital medium of DVD. The releasing company missed a golden opportunity to clean it up -- the film is grainy, flickering and shows signs of deterioration that could and should have been corrected before releasing the film on DVD. The soundtrack, as well, is perfectly awful, with shattered, screeching highs and inaudible lows. I have recordings made from wax cylinders recorded before 1910 that have been restored to sound much better than this 1934 release. It's very discouraging that so little care and attention should have been paid to finally making this film available after so many years. Anna May Wong, and the people who buy this DVD, deserve better.

An Anna May Wong classic

A marvelous production. Apart from Anna May Wong the other actors contributions and it,s ballet dances staged by Anton Dolin are superb. This new compilation has two extra films included in a handsome DVD case. A must for the collector of Musical Films. It would be the perfect item for a colour version.

I bought this for reasons of nostalgia, but would not advise it to someone who has none.

BUP, IFO format

Very good