An amazing movie. The first time I saw it, I couldn't believe what I was watching -- it's so old-fashioned, so racist, so antifeminist, so melodramatic, and yet, it's wonderfully gripping. Here is a story full of clichés about the East, and about the decadence of Shanghai in particular. Part of the fun of watching this film is trying to guess what was left out. There was a Broadway version of Shanghai Gesture in the 1920s, and the protagonist's name in the play, "Mother Goddamn," is so wonderfully evocative of her character. The film's "Mother Gin Sling" doesn't tell her backstory in the same way.
It's obvious that Victor Mature's character is giving Gene Tierney's character more than sex and booze. He is one of those doctors who is an easy source of drugs to the idle rich. Although I think Mature is somewhat miscast as the insidious Persian physician (too robust; too American), he does well, and those supercilious, smoldering looks he gives are entirely appropriate to the situation. Gene Tierney gives a no-holds-barred performance as the girl gone wrong: a spoiled, rude, petulant baby who is in sharp contrast to the so-called "floozy" of the story, who is by far her superior in every way, except economically.
Ona Munson is wonderful as the amoral Mother Gin Sling. Actually, the first time I saw the film I missed the beginning, and I thought the character was being played by Gloria Swanson. I suppose Swanson could have done it equally as well, but probably would have turned down such an unsavory role.
My favorite character is Mike Mazurki as Mother Gin Sling's strongman. Mazurki was a sometime wrestler/actor, who usually played big dumb gangsters, or big dumb policemen. He is very good here as the menacing presence, and looks strong and manly without a shirt, and no doubt without Pilates.
A totally involving window onto how people thought about each other in the past.
It's obvious that Victor Mature's character is giving Gene Tierney's character more than sex and booze. He is one of those doctors who is an easy source of drugs to the idle rich. Although I think Mature is somewhat miscast as the insidious Persian physician (too robust; too American), he does well, and those supercilious, smoldering looks he gives are entirely appropriate to the situation. Gene Tierney gives a no-holds-barred performance as the girl gone wrong: a spoiled, rude, petulant baby who is in sharp contrast to the so-called "floozy" of the story, who is by far her superior in every way, except economically.
Ona Munson is wonderful as the amoral Mother Gin Sling. Actually, the first time I saw the film I missed the beginning, and I thought the character was being played by Gloria Swanson. I suppose Swanson could have done it equally as well, but probably would have turned down such an unsavory role.
My favorite character is Mike Mazurki as Mother Gin Sling's strongman. Mazurki was a sometime wrestler/actor, who usually played big dumb gangsters, or big dumb policemen. He is very good here as the menacing presence, and looks strong and manly without a shirt, and no doubt without Pilates.
A totally involving window onto how people thought about each other in the past.