Daughter of the Tong

This is an old "B" crime movie if there ever was one, straight out of the 1930s. This was released in 1939 but it looks and feels more like 1931. The acting isn't bad but it's closer to Ed Wood-type '50s material than to Casablanca. In the first half of the film, the story drags too much. You'd think that would be almost impossible in a film that's less than an hour long, but it's true. For much of the first 30 minutes, nothing happens, but it picks up in the second half with hokey barroom-brawl-type fights and a car chase in the country.

The story is a simple one: an FBI agent goes undercover to get a crime boss. The twist is that "Carney," the crime boss of San Francisco's Chinatown, is a woman and the FBI doesn't know that. By the way, nobody is the gang is Asian.

The man pretending to semi-famous crook "Gallagher" from the east who has just escaped from the Atlanta prison, has his work cut out for him: another guy - "Lefty" (gee, what a unique name for a criminal) from Atlanta is there and could blow our man's cover. Playing the FBI good guy is Grant Withers ("agent Ralph Dickson"). Gallagher was only recruited because the local heat was on Carney and she preferred someone else running the show for awhile in case the law won. Then, she wouldn't implicated since she and the new guy had no connections.

I wish "Carney" had a bigger role because Evelyn Brent is very good in here, very mysterious, beautiful and her dialog is fun to hear. Unlike "Muggsy," one of her gang members who is too nice a guy to be a thug, Brent's character is tough and edgy.

The transfer quality on this Alpha Video disc is horrible, like a bad VHS tape.

Daughter of the Tong (1939) I watched couple of times fairly recently a crime film that comes under less than 1 hour running time. Read few user reviews some denigrating ones there also. I'm not into crime films in general but like this one! In fact I've sent for restored version dvd. The "illustrious one" & known to her subordinates as "Carney" played by Evelyn Brent. She rules them with a iron fist! Won't get into plot you no doubt have read already. She "Carney" is a mysterious lady who alone carries film itself, her cool demeanour shows!

Thanks to the movie's extended prologue I now know who the FBI is. Like most Americans, I was in serious doubt. Kidding aside, the prologue is rather odd in its assumptions, even for 1939. All in all, there's nothing special about this 60-minute programmer that mainly dramatizes the agency at work in stopping an Asian smuggling ring. It appears the culprits smuggle people into the country inside sealed boxes who apparently breathe by magic. Anyway, despite the title, the flick's not very ethnic, Loo being the only real Asian, and with no real presence of a tong.

Story-wise, Withers goes undercover to penetrate the gang and its mysterious mastermind, Carney. But to us viewers, the culprit's pretty apparent from the outset. Don't worry, though, if things slow down there's always a brawl available- I hope the guys got double pay for all the acrobatics. And catch the great Richard Loo already planning his many sinister roles in WWII, along with Dave O'Brien taking a break from six-shooters and cowboy hats. On the other hand, it's too bad Brent didn't make a stronger try at acting evil since she really looks the part. The best part to me was the well-crafted car chase over mountain roads that's worthy of a more expensive production. Anyway, the flick's an okay action feature for a slow evening, but nothing more.

This film is rather well known for a B picture, I have heard of it since a long time and I understand why. Showing a villain female lead character is of course amazing, especially in those periods. Even now in 2024, it would be daring, so imagine in 1939. Evelyn Brent is perfect in this role, and the film is entertaining, more than so many others from this period. But I expected something more powerful, unusual, poignant. Evelyn Brent robs the whole film, it was foreseeable after seeing her for only a few minutes. The last minutes could have saved the story, at least for me. But this ending is just lousy; such a shame.

An FBI agent (apparently something fairly new), a crime boss, a little Asian profiling and xenophobia, a few crooks, some cars, a couple chases, and nothing the least bit memorable. I watched this as part of a collection because I'm curious about the this period in film history. These were probably made in a week and offered a bit of diversion in the midst of the depression and before we got into the war. We have a couple strong women, one on each side, and a plot that's not the least bit interesting. There's no suspense and no great question to be answered. It's no more nor less than it was meant to be. The performances are OK but there's that deep moral fervor that seems to permeate everything. Just another film.