Limehouse Blues

"Limehouse Blues" was a very uninteresting movie I only watched for Anna May Wong.

It starred George Raft as Harry Young, a half-Chinese, half-white man who was a criminal who immersed himself in Chinese culture and customs until he got stuck on an American girl named Toni (Jean Parker). He spent great efforts trying to impress her and make her love him, and in return she fell in love with a pet shop manager named Eric Benton (Kent Taylor).

As for Ann May Wong, she was largely in the background brooding over the fact that Harry was in love with a white woman.

There wasn't a whole lot to this movie, and George Raft was a sub-par actor no matter what he was in.

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I saw this one ages ago and liked it. George Raft is not the first actor one would think of to play a half-Chinese, but once cast, given the bizarre premise, he's not so catastrophic as one might expect. The movie is set in London's famous Limehouse district, which was where all the Chinese in the city used to live. It's a combination crime story-romance-sociological study, and as such fascinating just to look at, for a glimpse of a bygone era. The supporting cast is quite strong. I sense in this film the influence of director Joseph Von Sternberg (who is not listed in the credits, I should add), but who was still under contract to Paramount when this was made, and who was attracted to all things Eastern and exotic. A dark, very watchable movie, for those who like such things.

By the looks of it, no one will ever see these comments. But hey, this movie has a great name! What a poignant flavor "limehouse" has! The juxtaposition of "lime" and "blues" gives a great image! I recommend this movie on that basis alone. I think you'll find if you watch this movie, that the name has great significance. I'm not going to shower you with plot details (this being a crime movie, almost anything I say would spoil some surprises) but go ahead and check this one out if you can find it. Four stars for LIMEHOUSE BLUES!

Casting George Raft as a Chinese gangster was a 50% success for Paramount Pictures. They got the gangster half, right in Limehouse Blues.

The famous English blues ballad Limehouse Blues permeates the score and serves as a background for the story. Raft plays Harry Young a person of mixed race origins who comes from New York to London to oversee his import, read that as smuggling business. He's also quite ruthless in disposing of rivals like Montagu Love who's a brutish thug who ran things on the waterfront until Raft got there.

Love also has a daughter played by Jean Parker whom he beats on a regular basis and Raft kind of likes her which displeases his Oriental mistress Anna May Wong the only genuine Oriental person in the cast. She's not about to be cast aside no matter what.

30 years later the film would have been cast with someone like James Shigeta or Toshiro Mifune in the lead. Even now it could be done with someone like Lou Diamond Phillips or Russell Wong in the lead. Try as he might George Raft just does not come over as Oriental. And on that the film barely hits average.

I hope I gave someone producer some casting ideas.

Drawing its title from the 1922 jazz standard, "Limehouse Blues" is a fast-paced, moody mix of crime and infatuation in a seedy London district. Director Alexander Hall and cinematographer Harry Fischbeck maintain a consistent aura throughout, making this film as brief and surprisingly good as a potsticker. George Raft plays Harry Young, an upstart crime boss of mixed heritage (one character calls him a "half-and-half"), who has infiltrated Limehouse from New York. Oddly, Raft needed little makeup to believably play half-Chinese. Whether Harry Young's wardrobe is of English or Chinese make, it is impeccable in every scene and seems to be part of the storytelling. Harry owns and even performs in a Limehouse nightclub with Tu Tuan (sultry Anna May Wong). He is closely in tune with his Asian culture, but that is shaken when white chippy Toni (Jean Parker) with xenophobic tendencies comes into his life. Parker is not for an instant plausibly British, becoming the biggest hurdle in suspending disbelief. Toni's stepfather Pug (malicious Montagu Love) is Harry's chief rival on the docks. Inspector Sheridan (Robert Loraine) has them both under a watchful eye. When Harry falls for Toni, and Toni starts seeing another young fellow (the hint is that he is a thoroughbred unlike Harry), and Tu Tuan's jealousy leads her to revenge, and someone ends up dead, well there you have a plot. Along the way we get slimy John Rogers, always just right Billy Bevans and even an uncredited Eric Blore creating his staple character. In heritage alone, Harry Young would seem a bit out of type for Raft, but his clear comfort in the part makes one think he drew on his New York memories of those he knew to put this one across. "Limehouse Blues" is a tasty trip through the Chinese sector, touching on race relations and self-value.