Sessue Hayakawa on Turner Classic Movies
by Andre Soares
Tuesday, June 3, highlights on Turner Classic Movies:
TCM continues with the not-to-be-missed "Asian Images in Film" series, with several silents and a couple of early talkies featuring East Asian characters.
The Cheat is an overwrought melodrama that is a must-see simply because it stars Sessue Hayakawa (right), the first (and only?) Hollywood-made East Asian superstar. Hayakawa is fine as a wealthy — and very kinky — Easterner who teaches a white woman, played by stage star Fannie Ward, who is the master. (Without Hayakawa, the 1931 remake starring Tallulah Bankhead is all but unwatchable.) Later that evening, TCM will also show the 1919 Hayakawa vehicle The Dragon Painter, which I haven’t seen.
Mr. Wu is another over-the-top melodrama, this time featuring Lon Chaney as one more kinky and vengeful East Asian aristocrat, while The Mask of Fu Manchu is a politically incorrect hoot, what with slanted-eyed Boris Karloff and Myrna Loy wreaking more vengeful and kinky havoc on poor white folk. No that Lewis Stone, Charles Starrett, and especially Karen Morley didn’t deserve it.
Now, a kind and unkinky member of the "yellow race" (that’s how they’re referred to in those films) can be found in the person of white-race member Richard Barthelmess in D. W. Griffith’s sentimental but touching Broken Blossoms. Barthelmess is superb as the young Chinese immigrant who’ll sacrifice it all for the sake of Lillian Gish’s suffering maiden, while Danish-born Nils Asther is quite good as the Chinese general who discovers in The Bitter Tea of General Yen that loving a white woman (Barbara Stanwyck) is dangerous business.
Several B-grade John Derek (photo, below right) flicks are hardly what I’d call highlights, but they may be worth a look, while The Big Boodle merits mention if only because it was one of Errol Flynn’s last films.
Schedule (Pacific Time) and synopses from the TCM website:
1:00am [Western] Fighting Kentuckian, The (1949)
A militiaman falls for a Frenchwoman and tries to protect her people from land grabbers.
Cast: John Wayne, Vera Ralston, Oliver Hardy. Dir: George Waggner. BW-100 mins
2:41am [Short Film] Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Glimpses Of Kentucky (1941)
C-8 mins
3:00am [Drama] Family Secret, The (1951)
When his son accidentally kills someone, a lawyer must defend the man wrongly charged with the murder.
Cast: John Derek, Lee J. Cobb, Jody Lawrance. Dir: Henry Levin. BW-85 mins
4:35am [Short Film] Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Roaming Through Arizona (1944)
This "Traveltalk" explores about the history, land, people, and culture of Arizona.
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick C-9 mins
4:45am [Adventure] Mask of the Avenger (1951)
When his father is murdered, an Italian nobleman becomes an outlaw to avenge the crime.
Cast: John Derek, Anthony Quinn, Jody Lawrance. Dir: Phil Karlson. C-83 mins
6:15am [Western] Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
Ex-cons searching for buried loot are interrupted by an Indian attack.
Cast: John Hodiak, John Derek, David Brian. Dir: Fred Sears. C-73 mins
7:30am [War] Mission Over Korea (1953)
A rookie pilot in the Korean War wants to avenge his brother’s death.
Cast: William Chun, John Derek, Richard Erdman. Dir: Fred Sears. BW-85 mins
9:00am [Adventure] Prince of Pirates (1953)
A prince fights to free his people from his older brother’s oppressive rule.
Cast: John Derek, Barbara Rush, Carla Balenda. Dir: Sidney Salkow. C-80 mins
10:30am [Western] War Paint (1953)
Bloodthirsty renegades try to stop a Cavalry lieutenant from delivering a peace treaty to a powerful Indian chief.
Cast: Robert Stack, Joan Taylor, Peter Graves. Dir: Lesley Selander. C-85 mins
12:00pm [Drama] Rebellion of the Hanged, The (1954)
The miserable conditions at a mahogany camp in the Mexican jungle lead the workers to revolt.
Cast: Pedro Armendariz, Carlos Moctezuma, Victor Junco. Dir: Alfredo Crevenna. BW-82 mins
1:30pm [Crime] Big Boodle, The (1957)
Tough guy fights Cuban gangsters and counterfeiters.
Cast: Errol Flynn, Pedro Armendariz, Rossana Rory. Dir: Richard Wilson. BW-84 mins
3:00pm [Western] Star Packer, The (1934)
A U.S. Marshall takes on the job of defeating a mysterious criminal.
Cast: John Wayne, Verna Hillie, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes. Dir: Robert N. Bradbury. BW-55 mins
4:00pm Slanted Screen, The (2006)
5:00pm [Silent] Cheat, The (1915)
In this silent film, a society woman makes a costly bargian to pay off her debts.
Cast: Sessue Hayakawa, Fannie Ward, Jack Dean. Dir: Cecil B. DeMille. C-59 mins
6:15pm [Silent] Broken Blossoms (1919)
In this silent film, an Asian man in London falls in love with an abused child.
Cast: Lillian Gish, Richard Barthelmess, Donald Crisp. Dir: D.W. Griffith. BW-89 mins
8:00pm [Silent] Dragon Painter, The (1919)
An artist obsesses over a beautiful woman he believes has been turned into a dragon.
Cast: Sessue Hayakawa, Toyo Fujita, Edward Peil, Sr. Dir: William Worthington. BW-53 mins
9:00pm [Silent] Mr. Wu (1927)
In this silent film, a Chinese patriarch goes mad when his daughter falls for an Englishman.
Cast: Lon Chaney, Louise Dresser, Anna May Wong. Dir: William Nigh. BW-91 mins
10:45pm [Romance] Bitter Tea of General Yen, The (1932)
An American missionary falls in love with a Chinese warlord.
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther, Walter Connolly. Dir: Frank Capra. BW-87 mins
12:19am [Short Film] Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Goofy Movies #10 (1934)
BW-10 mins
12:30am [Horror/Science-Fiction] Mask Of Fu Manchu, The (1932)
A Chinese warlord threatens explorers in search of the key to global power.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Lewis Stone, Myrna Loy. Dir: Charles Brabin. BW-68 mins
GRAND PRIX on Turner Classic Movies
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