While this film has undeniable drawbacks, chief among them a typical 30s Hollywood attitude toward Chinese folks (although, to be fair, it does take a couple potshots at white prejudice toward Asians), a way too theatrical performance by Josephine Hutchinson and an ending that is, to put it at its kindliest, less than convincing, like most movies directed by Mervin Le Roy it is fast paced, rarely boring and ultimately worth one's time.
Plus it has, to my mind at least, a rather important theme, namely the price that is exacted by allowing one's identity to be subsumed by one's occupation. And playing the subsumee Pat O'Brien, usually one of Hollywood's less compelling actors, turns in one of his best performances, alternately bitter, triumphant, vulnerable and loyal in his attitude toward the rather devious Atlas Oil Co. And therein lies another reason I enjoyed this film. As a previous reviewer stated it bucks the trend in Tinseltown, from "Wildcat" to "Giant", of glorifying Big Business, particularly when that business involves petroleum. Indeed the criticism of corporate malfeasance in the film is so sharp that it lingers in the mind long after that ludicrous ending where the icy corporate heart is melted by a wife's plea. As if. Give it a B minus.
Plus it has, to my mind at least, a rather important theme, namely the price that is exacted by allowing one's identity to be subsumed by one's occupation. And playing the subsumee Pat O'Brien, usually one of Hollywood's less compelling actors, turns in one of his best performances, alternately bitter, triumphant, vulnerable and loyal in his attitude toward the rather devious Atlas Oil Co. And therein lies another reason I enjoyed this film. As a previous reviewer stated it bucks the trend in Tinseltown, from "Wildcat" to "Giant", of glorifying Big Business, particularly when that business involves petroleum. Indeed the criticism of corporate malfeasance in the film is so sharp that it lingers in the mind long after that ludicrous ending where the icy corporate heart is melted by a wife's plea. As if. Give it a B minus.