The Shanghai Story (1954) User Reviews

Tension in Shanghai

[jjnxn-1 · 7/10 · 26 December 2014]

Run of the mill prisoner of war film is elevated by the snappiness of the direction from Frank Lloyd, director of the first Mutiny on the Bounty with Clark Gable and Charles Laughton, and the cast.

Set mostly amongst a group of enemy aliens confined to a hotel in the title city Lloyd keeps the viewer engaged by having the action move repeatedly from room to room with occasional scenes elsewhere.

That's fine as far as it goes but the other element that makes the film enjoyable is the competence of the main players. Edmond O'Brien is impassioned as the doctor who becomes the focal point of the story with Whit Bissell and a very young Richard Jaeckel adding fine support as two fellow prisoners. Also standing out and looking very beautiful is Ruth Roman. Never given her due she was a fierce screen presence elevating the often middling material she was handed as she does here.

Nothing special but if you like this type of adventure/war picture an agreeable time passer.

Takin' on the cold war the American way!

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 19 May 2015]

Less than ten years after the end of World War II, Tokyo becomes the good guy and Shanghai the villain in this cold war drama which has more than just a few similarities with "Grand Hotel". All the archetypes of that classic play and movie are there, including a pompous businessman who falsely believes his double dealing with the Chinese will get him freed and a frail older man who may be dying. It starts with a group of total strangers arriving at a lavish hotel used by China's "New Order" as one of their headquarters. There, everybody is lined up and warned that any attempts to interfere with the "New Order" will result in their immediate torture and execution. An attempt on the businessman's life by a Chinese rebel outside the "New Order" leads to violence and further threats on the American prisoners' safety.

Playing a combination of Marlene Dietrich and Ava Gardner, the very sexy Ruth Roman is a mystery to the American people arrested and placed in the hotel where she has been living for years. But is she really the loose woman she appears to be, or is she secretly trying to salvage what virtue she has left? She has the leader of the Chinese "New Order" under her thumb, and uses this to save evil Chinese General Philip Ahn from taking advantage of a pretty young woman recently married to one of the prisoners. Influential American Edmund O'Brien is obviously entranced by the seductive Roman at once, and no sooner are they alone, they are verbally sparing which leads to the inevitable kiss.

When hotel prisoners are brought together to reveal which one of them is a spy, the revelation of who it is becomes anti-climactic, but of course, Roman is made to look like a squealer, even though she insists she's innocent. Will O'Brien manage to get word to the resistance in an effort to save these American lives? Action-packed and fraught with tension, "The Shanghai Story" is better than expected, coming from Republic Studios, and fortunately not starring Vera Hruba Ralston, the studio's over-exposed leading lady who normally got all the "A" list films there if not decent reviews. That part went to the sparkling Ruth who really stands out. Taking a speech from practically every World War II drama where an innocent man spoke up to the Nazi's, there's a scene straight out of that mold, pretty much copied verbatim from the 1943 Errol Flynn anti-Nazi drama "Edge of Darkness", even down to the character being a minister. Some of the torture perpetrated by the Chinese is truly scary, and the irony of the resistance trying to get in contact with Tokyo is a very interesting twist considering the year this was made. O'Brien is excellent in the hero role, and the supporting players (including Frank Ferguson and Whit Bissell) are excellent as well.

It feels like Key Largo and Casablanca all over again

[mls4182 · 6/10 · 10 November 2021]

Several Americans living in China are held captive in a hotel until the Chinese military finds out which of them is a spy. Hardly an original plot, but there is some good suspense. The leads have absolutely NO CHEMISTRY. I basically watched this to see Ruth Roman. Her part is good, but she doesn't play the downtrodden gutsy dames that made us love her. O'Brien is his typical crabby self. The supporting characters are relegated to speaking extras.

It is worth a watch, but don't go in with high expectations.

Frank Lloyd's Penultimate Film

[boblipton · 6/10 · 20 September 2021]

The Communists have taken over, and under the New China, about fifty westerners are detained at the New Waldorf Hotel. Among them is top-billed Ruth Roman, who was friendly to members of the old regime, and is equally so to embers of the new. The story, however, centers on Edmond O'Brien, a doctor who wants to get out.

The story is half P. O. W. Movie, with a strong debt to CASABLANCA; the new ruling elite is as rapacious as Claude Rains' Louis Renault, but lack the warmth and humanity of Conrad Veidt's Heinrich Strasser. None of the characters is much more than a stereotype, varying in mood according to the dictates of the story. On the other hand, Jack Marta's Dutch Angles and diffuse, foggy lighting, gives the movie a fine, depressing film noir feeling, and every aspect of the production under the control of director Frank Lloyd is first rate. It's a pity this was made at the height of Cold War fever and the script played directly into that with a fervor that makes one think the war is very hot indeed.

Disappointing!

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 11 August 2017]

Executive producer: Herbert J. Yates. Copyright 3 May 1954 by Republic Pictures Corp. New York opening at the Palace: 24 September 1954. U.S. release: 1 September 1954. U.K. release: April 1954 (sic). Australian release through 20th Century-Fox: 2 December 1954. Sydney opening at the Palace (ran 2 weeks). 8,100 feet. 90 minutes. Cut to 86 minutes in the U.K.

COMMENT: Judiciously pruned of its superfluous and unconvincing romance between Edmond O'Brien's aggressively juvenile doctor and Ruth Roman's impossibly over-dressed siren, "The Shanghai Story" would have enough steam to make a fair support. Lloyd has handled the action spots with something like reasonable panache — though considerably below the standard of his similar Oriental expose in his immediately previous film, "Blood on the Sun" (1945) — but his dialogue endeavors are pretty woeful. Mind you, the script is mostly to blame. Actors like Basil Ruysdael and John Alvin just can't help being cloying, any more than Marvin Miller can stop himself bullying so aggressively.

Although most of the action takes place in the hotel — junking 2 reels or 20 minutes would help relieve this — the film has actually been produced on a fair-sized budget. Marta's atmospheric photography is a big asset, whilst the Lydecker Brothers get their chance with a magnificent explosion.

Always nice to see Philip Ahn.

OTHER VIEWS: Frank Lloyd's comeback film after a nine-year retirement, proves not exactly the most worthy vehicle for the five- times Academy Award nominated — and two times winner — Best Director. The script is a ridiculous amalgam of hollow clichés and xenophobic propaganda, but Lloyd does make it work just passably on its own comic-strip level.

The principals fail to impress, but the support cast is made up of old Hollywood reliables including all our favorite Orientals, plus Frank Ferguson doing his Norwegian impersonation.

The action scenes register strongly, whilst photography, music and art direction combine to build up a fascinatingly moody atmosphere (which a risible turn of the plot successfully demolishes at the finale). Still, Republic's behind-the-camera personnel are in their element here. The Lydeckers even get a chance to stage an explosion, — their specialty. - JHR writing as "George Addison".

The writing is a let-down.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 18 February 2019]

When the story begins, China has just fallen to the Communists in 1949. Oddly, although you would THINK all foreign nationals in China would be scared and on their best behaviors so as to not upset the new regime, the westerners in this film are all angry and stupid. After being moved by the new regime to wait at a hotel, they scream at their captors, make threats and pretty much seem like obnoxious idiots. This is odd since it's supposed to be a propagnda picture that is anti-communist. I found myself wanting to see a few of these idiots get shot...and so the film really did not do its intended job! Fortunately, the obnoxious behaviors diminished as the film progressed.

The Chinese communists in this film are almost uniformly stupid, paranoid and evil. One is even apparently not above using extortion to try force one of the prisoners to put out for him. And, though the course of the film, these Chinese become more violent and nasty.

The odd person out in all this is Rita King (Ruth Roman). Unlike the other westerners, she is free to come and go from the hotel...presumably because she's putting out for one of the higher Chinese officials. Because of this, the other internees avoid and dislike her. But through the course of the story, she turns out to have a heart of gold and tries her best to help these prisoners.

If you are looking for realism, this isn't a great film for you. Although the Chinese communists were a bloodthirsty lot, the western folks in the film are almost like cartoon characters and often lack realism. Making threats against your captors...that certainly seems odd and stupidly out of place, for example.

Overall, a rather obvious propaganda film which could have been better had the writing been better. I think the Chinese were portrayed reasonably well...but the rest seemed like caricatures instead of real people.

Watchable Early CCP China Film - The Shanghai Story

[arthur_tafero · 5/10 · 25 December 2021]

Unfortunately, The Shanghai Story is not THE story of Shanghai after the fall of mainland China to the CCP in 1949. There are elements of truth in the film, and there are also stereotypes and exaggerations of CCP behavior. Some of what you see is true; and some of it is pretty silly stuff. Especially the ending; I will not reveal the ending, except to say it was one of the most ridiculous endings I have ever seen in a film. Edmund O"Brien was beginning to gain weight and age as a leading man, and looked more Rodney Dangerfield in a few scenes rather than a leading man. Ruth Roman was very good, however. And the direction is tight from Frank Lloyd. What we don't see are the motivations of the CCP in China at the time, and the amazing level of corruption of the KMT (that continues to this day in Taiwan). The fictional aspect of a "Chinese Underground" in Shanghai was also a complete fabrication; there was no such movement. However, the film is still entertaining.

Is it a spy thriller?

[byron-116 · 4/10 · 20 March 2020]

I just watched The Shanghai Story and could not tell if it should be labeled a spy thriller! It is in a way, but not really.