Sunday, May 5, 2024

Are You With Me, Dr. Wu?

 

 (imdb)

MR. WU-1927-Mandarin Wu (Lon Chaney) hires American Mr. Muir (Claude King) to teach his son "the ways of the west". When young Wu grows to manhood, he (also Chaney) marries but his wife dies after giving birth to their daughter Nang Ping (Rene Adoree'). Years later young Wu is a powerful mandarin and Nang Ping, a precocious young woman who will soon wed a man she's never met. Everything seems OK until she accidentally meets Basil Gregory (Ralph Forbes), the son of a racist diplomat (Holmes Herbert). They fall in love and have secret meetings in the lotus garden. Only her friend Loo Song (Anna May Wong) knows. When she meets his parents, Nang realizes their romance is doomed. The gardener tells Wu he saw them together so in anger Wu kills him! Then he watches Nang as she and Basil declare their love. Later saying Nang has disgraced the family Wu kills her to save her soul. Then he tortures Basil and torments Mrs. Gregory (Louise Dresser) by making her choose who should live or die: her son or daughter (Gertrude Olmstead). 

Strange little drama with Chaney once again carrying the picture as the honorable Wu. Ironically, director William Nigh years later directed the “Mr. Wong” series of films with Boris Karloff. Lead actress Renee Adoree' (from France) was a big star at the time but later contracted tuberculosis and died in 1933.

Thanks for reading!

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