Shadow of Chinatown

Last updated
Shadow of Chinatown
Shadow of Chinatown 1936.jpg
Film poster advertising the first episode
Directed by Robert F. Hill
Written byWilliam Buchanan (screenplay)
Basil Dickey (screenplay)
Robert F. Hill (story)
Produced by Sam Katzman
StarringSee below
Cinematography William Hyer
Edited by Charles Henkel Jr.
Distributed by Victory Pictures
Release date
  • 1936 (1936)
Running time
71 minutes (film)
281 minutes (serial)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Shadow of Chinatown is both a 1936 film serial and a feature film edited from the serial made by Sam Katzman's Victory Pictures.

Contents

Plot

A consortium of American businesses are disturbed by the loss of profits due to Chinese businesses located in Chinatowns in the United States. They hire a pair of Eurasians and their criminal organization to eliminate their competition.

Cast

Chapter Titles

The serial chapters are as follows:

  1. The Arms of the Gods
  2. The Crushing Walls
  3. 13 Ferguson Alley
  4. Death on the Wire
  5. The Sinister Ray
  6. The Sword Thrower
  7. The Noose
  8. Midnight
  9. The Last Warning
  10. The Bomb
  11. Thundering Doom
  12. Invisible Gas
  13. The Brink of Disaster
  14. The Fatal Trap
  15. The Avenging Powers [1]

Production

The serial was known originally as just Chinatown and was written with Lugosi in mind. [2]

Release

A feature version of this serial was released simultaneously with the serial itself. It was also called "Shadow of Chinatown" with a slightly altered ending. [3]

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References

  1. "Shadow of Chinatown" . Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  2. Schallert, Edwin (Aug 5, 1936). "Ziegfeld Banner Will be Held Aloft by Talented Young Daughter Patricia: Girl Signs to Work on Universal Opus Bela Lugosi Slated to Star in "Chinatown", Fifteen-Chapter Serial; Gale Sondergaard Chosen as Menace in "Maid of Salem"". Los Angeles Times. p. 11.
  3. Harmon, Jim; Donald F. Glut (1973). "8. The Detectives "Gangbusters!"". The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. Routledge. pp. 176, 180–181. ISBN 978-0-7130-0097-9.