Word: dragons
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...Based on a Fu Manchu novel by Sax Rohmer, the plot of Daughter of the Dragon extended the curse sworn by Dr. Fu on the Petrie family to the next generation. Fu Manchu (Warner Oland), long ago injured and exiled in an attempt on Petrie Sr., returns to London and confronts the father: "In the 20 years I have fought to live," he says in his florid maleficence, "the thought of killing you and your son has been my dearest nurse." He kills the father, is mortally wounded himself and, on his deathbed, reveals his identity to his daughter Ling...
...back at Paramount, for three B pictures. But she was the star! And now, no more dragon ladies. Also no more meaty roles. Sinophiles may rue the villainy imputed to them in movies, but they should realize that villains are often the best parts. The snake gets all the lines...
...greedily, by a rapacious, besotted Japanese general (in her last starring role, Lady from Chungking). But, so often, directors sidled up to the big smooch, then found an excuse to abort it, as with the white Fletcher and the Asian Hayakawa in Daughter of the Dragon and with Loder in Java Head. Decades after her death, the poet John Lau wrote a verse titled "No One Ever Tried to Kiss Anna May Wong." That's not quite true; the poem's title should be "Everyone Tried to Kiss Anna May Wong But Hardly Anyone...
...Wong: A Complete Guide to Her Film, Stage, Radio and Television Work, by Philip Leibfried and Chei Mi Lane, reveals some of the mischief done to Wong characters: she was buried alive in The Devil Dancer, fatally impaled on knives in Song, shot dead in Piccadilly, Daughter of the Dragon and Lady from Chungking. She committed suicide in Shame and Drifting, Hai-Tang, Tiger Bay and Java Head (poison) and Limehouse Blues and Dangerous to Know (dagger...
...character or the size of her role. (The names of black actors, no matter how substantial their roles, were typically placed below the least significant white actors.) Yet, even when she was the star, she often was paid less than her supporting actors. In Daughter of the Dragon, where she was top-billed, she earned $6,000 to Hayakawa's $10,000 and Oland's $12,000 (though he's out of the picture by the 23rd min.). Her Shanghai Express gig, where she is billed third, again above Oland, Wong earned another $6,000; Dietrich...