Academy Awards, USA 1937
| Nominated Oscar | Best Actor in a Supporting Role Akim Tamiroff |
| Best Cinematography Victor Milner | |
| Best Music, Score Boris Morros Score by Werner Janssen. |
Paramount Pictures
Directed by Lewis Milestone
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Universal)
Gary Cooper is an American hired by Chinese rebels who want to overthrow their brutal warlord but lack the necessary guns. They send him to the big city of Shanghai to make a deal at a shady hotel. Along the way, he falls in love with the daughter of a man working for the warlord. When he realizes it, they have a big falling out in the hotel, but when she admits she loves him and regrets misleading him they make up. However, the warlord catches up with them and imprisons them on his ship in the harbor. They are tortured and threatened with execution, but Cooper manages to talk him out of it after the warlord is fatally shot and slowly dying. This action/adventure/drama is a mixed bag. Cooper struggles to deliver dialogue that is unnatural and poorly written. However, director Milestone experiments with split screens and other innovative techniques for the time and cinematographer Victor Milner provides plenty of shadow and atmosphere, particularly in the final scenes on the boat.
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