''Daughter of the Dragon'' is a 1931 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

crime mystery film directed by

Lloyd Corrigan Lloyd Corrigan (October 16, 1900 – November 5, 1969) was an American film and television actor, producer, screenwriter, and director who began working in films in the 1920s. The son of actress Lillian Elliott, Corrigan directed films, usually ...

, released by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, and starring

Anna May Wong Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese-American movie star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese-American actress to gain intern ...

as Princess Ling Moy,

Sessue Hayakawa , known professionally as , was a Japanese actor and a matinée idol. He was a popular star in Hollywood during the silent film era of the 1910s and early 1920s. Hayakawa was the first actor of Asian descent to achieve stardom as a leading man i ...

as Ah Kee, and

Warner Oland Warner Oland (born Johan Verner Ölund; October 3, 1879 – August 6, 1938) was a Swedish-American actor. His career included time on Broadway and numerous film appearances. He is most remembered for playing several Chinese and Chinese-American ...

as Dr.

Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu () is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, comic ...

(for his third and final feature appearance in the role, excluding a gag cameo in ''

Paramount on Parade ''Paramount on Parade'' is a 1930 all-star American pre-Code revue released by Paramount Pictures, directed by several directors including Edmund Goulding, Dorothy Arzner, Ernst Lubitsch, Rowland V. Lee, A. Edward Sutherland, Lothar Mendes, Ot ...

''). The film was made to capitalize on

Sax Rohmer Arthur Henry "Sarsfield" Ward (15 February 1883 – 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was an English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu."Rohmer, Sax" by Jack Adrian in Da ...

's then current book, ''The Daughter of Fu Manchu'', which Paramount did not own the rights to adapt. Despite being the starring lead and having top billing in this film, Wong was paid only $6,000, half the money for her role that Oland was paid for his, even though Oland had less screen time than Wong. In a 2020 article about Wong, ''

O, The Oprah Magazine ''O, The Oprah Magazine'', also known simply as ''O'', is an American monthly magazine founded by talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Communications. Overview It was first published on April 19, 2000. , its average paid circulation was ...

'' linked this discrepancy to racism.

Plot

Princess Ling Moy lives next door to the Petrie family, and is romantically involved with Ah Kee, a

secret agent Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

determined to thwart

. It is revealed that Fu Manchu is Ling Moy's father. At her Chinese father's bidding, Princess Ling Moy goes to murder an enemy and meets a

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

detective.

Cast

as Princess Ling Moy *

as Dr. Fu Manchu *

as Ah Kee *

Bramwell Fletcher Bramwell Fletcher (20 February 1904 – 22 June 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. Career Fletcher appeared on the stage in 1927 and made his Broadway debut in 1929. Hollywood and sound films soon beckoned. He made his ...

as Ronald Petrie *

Frances Dade Frances Pemberton Dade (February 14, 1907 – January 21, 1968) was an American film and stage actress of the late 1920s and 1930s. Family Dade was born in 1907 to Frances Rawle Pemberton and Francis Cadwallader Dade, Jr. in Philadelphia, Penn ...

as Joan Marshall *

Holmes Herbert Holmes Herbert (born Horace Edward Jenner; 30 July 1882 – 26 December 1956) was an English character actor who appeared in Hollywood films from 1915 to 1952, often as a British gentleman. Early life Born Horace Edward Jenner, (some sou ...

as Sir John Petrie *

Lawrence Grant Percy Reginald Lawrence-Grant (30 October 1870 in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England – 19 February 1952 in Santa Barbara, California, USA) was an English actor known for supporting roles in films such as ''The Living Ghost'', '' I'll Tell ...

as Sir Basil Courtney *Harold Minjir as Rogers *

Nicholas Soussanin Nicholas Soussanin (born 16 January 1889, Yalta, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Crimea, Ukraine) – 27 April 1975, New York City) was an actor from the Russian Empire who settled and worked in the United States. He was married ...

as Morloff * E. Alyn Warren as Lu Chung *

Wong Chung Wong Chung (17 July 1880 - 25 July 1963) was an American film actor. He began with the Asia Film Company The Asia Film Company was the first film production company in China. History The Asia Film Company was established in Shanghai in 1909 b ...

as Henchman (uncredited) *

Olaf Hytten Olaf Hytten (3 March 1888 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish actor. He appeared in more than 280 films between 1921 and 1955. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and died in Los Angeles, California from a heart attack, while sitting in his car ...

as Flinders the Butler (uncredited)

References

External links

* * * 1931 films 1931 crime films 1931 mystery films American black-and-white films American mystery films Films directed by Lloyd Corrigan Paramount Pictures films Films with screenplays by Sidney Buchman American crime films Fu Manchu films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{1930s-crime-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links