I'm happy to have found out about this apparently little-seen documentary. It's a concise history of Chinese-American filmmaking and screen representation in Hollywood, as told through talking-head interviews and lots of clips. And, they got the right interviewees--not something I might've once thought needed to be pointed out, but there are too many docs where they just seem to put whomever they can get in front of a camera, it seems noteworthy. So, we get the acting and directing likes of Joan Chen, Tsai Chin, James Hong, Nancy Kwan, Ang Lee, Christopher Lee, Justin Lin, Luise Rainer, Wayne Wang, B. D. Wong, and others and clips from early cinema to 21st-century blockbusters and such notable relevant films as "Lotus Blossom" (1921), those from star Anna May Wong, "The Good Earth" (1937) and many other examples of yellowface, the Charlie Chan and Fu Manchu franchises, Richard Loo playing Japanese villains in WWII features, "The World of Suzie Wong" (1960), "Flower Drum Song" (1961), "Chinatown" (1974), Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan martial-arts flicks, John Woo action movies, "The Joy Luck Club," "M. Butterfly" (both 1993), "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000), "Better Luck Tomorrow" (2002), "Brokeback Mountain" (2005 and even "The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift" (2006).
I discovered "Hollywood Chinese" thanks to the notes on the Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers home-video set for "The Curse of Quon Gwon" (1917), credited as the earliest (partially) surviving example of independent Chinese-American filmmaking, as directed by, written by and starring Marion Wong. The documentary's maker, Arthur Dong discovered what remains of the title in the possession of Wong's descendants during his research for "Hollywood Chinese." That alone, of discovering such an important piece of film history, recommends this. Everyone would learn something from it, as at least that 1917 feature hadn't publicly existed for some 90 years, and here it is now on the 2-disc "Hollywood Chinese" set, as well as the Pioneers one.
The debate that emerges among the individual interviews is more interesting than one might find in more-academic writings, too, on topics of representation and yellowface and the nature of acting of inhabiting various characters versus respect of other cultures and political correctness. Rainer, for example, defends her and Paul Muni's roles in "The Good Earth," while Christopher Lee questions his own Dr. Fu Manchu roles, and Hong comments on how he's imitated Peter Lorre's Mr. Moto for some of his grand master type parts. An especially laughable scene revolves around pointing out the different and non-Chinese accents in a scene from "Dragon Seed" starring Katharine Hepburn and other actors from different parts of the world not including China in yellowface. Wong, especially in discussing his homosexuality, and the discussion around prostitute roles like Suzie Wong, brings up some interesting reflection on sexuality and East Asian stereotypes, too. The overall picture is broader than the usual, yeah, the past was offensive, but look how far we've come, although there's some of that, too. More people should see "Hollywood Chinese." It's a good overview and celebration of Chinese-American filmmaking and screen representation. There's even a clip of Roger Ebert yelling down a stupid comment from the audience at the Sundance panel for "Good Luck Tomorrow."
I discovered "Hollywood Chinese" thanks to the notes on the Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers home-video set for "The Curse of Quon Gwon" (1917), credited as the earliest (partially) surviving example of independent Chinese-American filmmaking, as directed by, written by and starring Marion Wong. The documentary's maker, Arthur Dong discovered what remains of the title in the possession of Wong's descendants during his research for "Hollywood Chinese." That alone, of discovering such an important piece of film history, recommends this. Everyone would learn something from it, as at least that 1917 feature hadn't publicly existed for some 90 years, and here it is now on the 2-disc "Hollywood Chinese" set, as well as the Pioneers one.
The debate that emerges among the individual interviews is more interesting than one might find in more-academic writings, too, on topics of representation and yellowface and the nature of acting of inhabiting various characters versus respect of other cultures and political correctness. Rainer, for example, defends her and Paul Muni's roles in "The Good Earth," while Christopher Lee questions his own Dr. Fu Manchu roles, and Hong comments on how he's imitated Peter Lorre's Mr. Moto for some of his grand master type parts. An especially laughable scene revolves around pointing out the different and non-Chinese accents in a scene from "Dragon Seed" starring Katharine Hepburn and other actors from different parts of the world not including China in yellowface. Wong, especially in discussing his homosexuality, and the discussion around prostitute roles like Suzie Wong, brings up some interesting reflection on sexuality and East Asian stereotypes, too. The overall picture is broader than the usual, yeah, the past was offensive, but look how far we've come, although there's some of that, too. More people should see "Hollywood Chinese." It's a good overview and celebration of Chinese-American filmmaking and screen representation. There's even a clip of Roger Ebert yelling down a stupid comment from the audience at the Sundance panel for "Good Luck Tomorrow."