Summary
In the late 1930s, an apparently wealthy German, Werner von Krale, is involved in trafficking
arms in the Far East. He agrees to supply a large consignment of arms to a Chinese
General, arms which he intends to buy from an important dignitary in the town of Macao,
Ying Tchaï. Unfortunately, Ying Tchaï expects to be paid in advance and
von Krale does not have the money. A woman that von Krale has befriended before
his return to Macao tries to help, but fails. Insulted, Ying Tchaï instructs
his thugs to open fire on Krale’s yacht. Von Krale manages to escape, with Ying
Tchaï’s daughter Jasmine, a prisoner on his boat. Hearing the news, Ying Tchaï
agrees to supply von Krale with the arms. Unbeknown to him, one of his henchmen
has arranged for von Krale’s yacht to be sunk by airborne bombers. When he hears
the news, Ying Tchaï is devastated, knowing that his daughter will share von Krale’s
fate.
Review
This is the first of Jean Delannoy’s many great film triumphs, and probably his best.
In a film laden with menace and mistrust, he tells a complex story that is both satisfying
emotionally and immensely watchable.
The sets offer an impressive reconstruction of the gambling port of Macao, complete with
a bustling casino, crowded narrow streets, and Chinese architecture - all drenched in
sinister shadows, in and out of which dart shady and unscrupulous villains.
On the acting side, we are afforded some very memorable performances. Erich von
Stroheim is perfectly cast as the luckless gunrunner, a role full of contradiction and
ambiguity. We can never be quite sure whether he rescued the young French woman
at the start of the film out of chivalry or simply for him to use later on as a bargaining
chip with Ying Tchaï.
The other main character, Ying Tchaï, is similarly a person with an uncertain moral
position. Played brilliantly by Sessue Hayakawa, Ying Tchaï is both the heartless
villain that sends his lackeys out to recover, by force, the winnings of those who win
too much in his casino, and the doting father who cannot bear to lose his daughter.
As the final shot suggests, it is the hand of fate that is the real villain of the piece,
for creating the set of circumstances that leads to such a tragic outcome.
The film was partly re-made in 1942 with Pierre Renoir taking the role played by Erich
von Stroheim, a move which was necessitated by the unpopularity of von Stroheim in France
at the time of the Nazi Occupation.
© James Travers 1999
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