Shadow of Chinatown explained

Shadow of Chinatown
Director:	Robert F. Hill
Producer:	Sam Katzman
Starring:	See below
Cinematography:	William Hyer
Editing:	Charles Henkel Jr.
Distributor:	Victory Pictures
Runtime:	71 minutes (film) 281 minutes (serial)
Country:	United States
Language:	English

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

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

• Bela Lugosi ... Victor Poten
• Herman Brix ... Martin Andrews
• Joan Barclay ... Joan Whiting
  • Luana Walters ... Sonya Rokoff, the Dragon Lady Charles King ... Grogan
• Forrest Taylor ... Police Captain Walters

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]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Shadow of Chinatown. March 20, 2020.
2. News: 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". Schallert, Edwin. Aug 5, 1936. Los Angeles Times. 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.