Singapore Sue

I have seen SINGAPORE SUE and I believe that the title character was played by ANNA MAY WONG. I also believe that her singing voice was dubbed as well. Anna May Wong was the vastly underrated Asian-American actress from the silents to talkies to setting the precedent as the first Asian-American actress to star in her own tv series in the fall of 1951 for two months. She made one last movie, PORTRAIT IN BLACK, in 1960 then died in 1961 at the age of 56.

Found my VCR had caught this when left on all night after capturing "The Black Swan". Cary Grant plays a "grins too much" sailor in a Singapore nightclub with three other sailors. No real plot, just a bunch of locals singing and Cary constantly scheming on the girl singer. Noticed one of the sailors was Millard Mitchell who played Jimmy Stewarts sidekick in Winchester '73 and Gregory Peck's boss in 12 O'clock High.

Singapore Sue (1932)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This Paramount short isn't a good film but it's certainly a very interesting one for a number of reasons including being able to see a young Cary Grant. In the film four sailors enter a Singapore bar where they're looking for alcohol and women. Sue (Anna Chang) comes to the boy's table and soon she's singing, dancing and showing them a part of Asian song and dance. There are many people who would probably watch this thing and be offended by the portrait of Asians but I'm going to defend what we're seeing here for one major reason. That reason is that while there are certainly some stereotypes here, at least we get real Asian actors playing the parts. Usually we had white actors doing the Asian roles so I was refreshed to see Asians getting to play themselves and that reason alone makes this film worth seeing. There are also some risqué pre-code elements including one where Chang spreads open her dress to reveal to the sailors what lovely legs she has. There's also some brief sexual talk with the sailors making it well known what they're looking for in this bar. Fans of Grant will have to look hard to spot him as he has very little to do. Chang is extremely lively in the part but I do wish that the music had been somewhat better. The songs she performs are decent at best but most of the quality comes from the actress and not the words.

Sven was completely off-base in his comment, as far as I can tell from some quick Internet research. Anna May Wong was a star of silent movies in the 1920s and it seems unlikely that she would have taken a role in a Paramount short in 1932, especially one where she portrayed a singer in a dive. "Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend" by Graham Russell Gao Hodges would confirm this but even if you rely on the Wikipedia entry on her, "She spent the first half of the 1930s traveling between the U.S. and Europe for film and stage appearances." A look at her picture shows no resemblance to Anna Chang. According to a review on another site, Chang and Joe Wong, her co-star, were "popular Chinese vaudeville stars." That seems more plausible to me than assuming that Anna May Wong appeared in "Singapore Sue" under a pseudonym.

Singapore Sue, not a great motion picture, but entertaining at times. Cary Grant makes his screen debut costarring next to the beloved Anna Chang in this clever comedy short about an American sailor boy who falls deeply in love with a Chinese dancing girl, Sue. The young Grant's face is barely recognizable behind that thick coating of makeup they had plastered all over it. But really folks, Casey Robinson is such an excellent director, it's surprising we don't see more of his work today. If I had to describe it in words I would only need one: a superb masterpiece. Come see this unforgettable classic feature and hear Singapore sing. I give it five stars, that's five out of ten. The rest is not worth commenting on.