Shadows Over Shanghai

If you just want to relax and not be challenged by a movie, but not be bored either, this one is for you. Cheaply made and a little slow at times, it nonetheless is quite entertaining. James Dunn and Ralph Morgan are performers who hold your attention. Linda Gray is leaden as an actress, but she is gorgeous in an offbeat way. Robert Barat is good as usual. The plot is entertaining enough, although the mcguffin is not necessarily worth all the to-do.

This was released in 1938. A scene of a city being bombed while our heros try to escape seems lifted from some other movie. It was probably pasted in to give this movie some excitement. However, it also reflected the anxiety people felt in those days about aerial bombardment. As Ralph Morgan says "This is what the next war will look like." And it did.