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Poster for Shadows of the Orient (1935)

Shadows of the Orient (1935)

1935 · Feature film · 67 min · dir. Burt P. Lynwood

FRISCO RIPPED WIDE OPEN...BY THRILL-MAD SOCIETY BEAUTY!

  • Drama
  • Crime
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Synopsis

"Shadows of the Orient" was originally (and still is) a Larry Darmour production made under the Empire Films banner in 1935 and released in August of 1935, although Motion Picture Herald did not review it until February of 1936. Following the reorganization of Monogram, after W. Ray Johnston, Scott R. Dunlap, Trem Carr and Paul Malvern broke away from their short stay at Republic Pictures, Monogram was in need of product to fill their exhibitor committments and picked up the film from whatever state-rights limbo it was in, and sent it back out on August 13, 1937 under a Monogram Pictures logo with nothing to indicate it was a re-issue of a two year-old film. Its first New York showing was at the Central Theatre on October 11, 1937, 27 months after initial release through the Empire exchanges, and it had lost three minutes from its original 68 minutes. The Foreword tells it all: "Since the passing of the Oriental Exclusion Act the smuggling of aliens has been constant. Although the smuggling is less than a few years ago, when Chinese were brought into the United States from Mexico in carlots, the traffic has by no means ceased, according to immigration officials. The length of the frontier and sparsely settled regions makes patrolling impossible. These smugglers have no regard for human life and resort to any means to accomplish their selfish ends. The boss of the ring, at this time, is receiving fifteen hundred dollars per head on safe delivery." This film's late 1937…

Synopsis from OMDb

Details

Director
Burt P. Lynwood
Writer
Louis E. Heifetz
Studio
Monogram Pictures, Larry Darmour Productions
Released
1935-07-06
Running time
67 minutes
Language
English
Collection
Feature Films

Subjects on the Internet Archive

Cast & crew

Reviews on the Internet Archive

★★★★★ · Not bad · jimelena · 2005-12-14

Maybe a little long for the content but it is free and what do you want for nothing? I liked it and think it should be watched.

★★★★★ · Esther Ralston · Brian Pinette · 2008-05-07

I was a frtiend of the STAR, Esther Ralston. This was a "programmer" ... and as such, it featured actually talented people in inane scripts ... usually, this was the first of a double feature. Esther was most notably recognized for her celestial work in Betty Bronson silent film starrer PETER PAN. A good effort. Sort of like LAW AND ORDER ... allowing "Mature" stars to be featured somewhere on celluloid.

★★★★ · Yellow Peril Resurrected · Hans Wollstein · 2004-07-04

Everybody seems to know how to fly an airplane in Shadows of the Orient, including gang boss Sidney Blackmer, brash young detective Regis Toomey, and even the ubiquitous debutante heroine, Esther Ralston. But to paraphrase an original review of this little potboiler, the story dates back much farther than its airborne conveyances. All the way back, in fact to the Yellow Peril days of the 1910s when what was then derogatorily termed Chinamen could send shivers down the spine of any upstanding American. Yet despite the less than politically correct terminology the…

★★★★ · I Love This Movie · Greenstrat · 2012-10-10

This is a wonderful little time capsule. The acting is as good as you got back then (Yeah I know, the timing can be a bit stagy, but remember when this was made) and I really enjoyed the trip.

★★★★ · Shadows of the Orient · FrankinHolland · 2005-11-06

Really interesting early aviation scenes. The movie is worth watching and mercifully short.

★★★★ · larry76 · larry76 · 2012-10-12

Another worthwhile film to watch. It may not have the greatest script, or actors , but is fun to watch.

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