See China and Die explained

Genre:	Crime Drama
Director:	Larry Cohen
Producer:	Larry Cohen Hal Schaffel
Starring:	Esther Rolle Kene Holliday
Music:	Joey Levine and Chris Palmaro
Cinematography:	Paul Glickman
Editor:	Armond Lebowitz
Company:	Big Hit Productions
Network:	NBC
Runtime:	86 minutes
Country:	United States
Language:	English

See China and Die (released in Europe as Hearsay) is a 1981 television film written, produced and directed by Larry Cohen.

Premise

A maid who reads detective stories finds herself embroiled in a real life mystery involving her dead boss and a mysterious statue he brought back from China. She acts as an amateur sleuth to solve the murder of her employer.^[1]

Cast

• Esther Rolle as Momma Sykes^[2]
• Kene Holliday as Sgt. Alvin Sykes
• Frank Converse as Tom Hackman
• Paul Dooley as Ames Prescott
• Andrew Duggan as Edwin Forbes
• Laurence Luckinbill as Dr. Glickman
• Jean Marsh as Sally Hackman
• Fritz Weaver as Poston
• Jane Hitchcock as Ruth
• Claude Brooks as Jessie Sykes
• William Walker II as Andy Sykes
• Miguel Pinero as Gonzalez
• James Dukas as Transplant^[3]

Production

The film was originally produced as a pilot for a mystery/crime series starring Esther Rolle called Momma the Detective, but the show never materialized.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Book: Roberts, Jerry. Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors. 5 June 2009. Scarecrow Press. 9780810863781. Google Books.
2. Book: McCann, Bob. Encyclopedia of African American Actresses in Film and Television. 27 October 2018. McFarland & Company. 9780786437900. Google Books.
3. Book: III, Harris M. Lentz. Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2008: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. 17 April 2009. McFarland. 9780786453849. Google Books.
4. Book: Williams, Tony. Larry Cohen: The Radical Allegories of an Independent Filmmaker, rev. ed.. 18 April 2016. McFarland. 9781476618197. Google Books.