''The Shanghai Story'' is a 1954 American
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
crime film
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
directed by
Frank Lloyd
Frank William George Lloyd (2 February 1886 – 10 August 1960) was a British-born American film director, actor, scriptwriter, and producer. He was among the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was its president ...
and starring
Ruth Roman
Ruth Roman (born Norma Roman; December 22, 1922 – September 9, 1999) was an American actress of film, stage, and television.
After playing stage roles on the east coast, Roman relocated to Hollywood to pursue a career in films. She appeare ...
,
Edmond O'Brien
Eamon Joseph O'Brien (September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American actor and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
O'Brien w ...
and
Richard Jaeckel
Richard Hanley Jaeckel (October 10, 1926 – June 14, 1997) was an American actor of film and television. Jaeckel became a well-known character actor in his career, which spanned six decades. He received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominatio ...
. It was based on a novel by Lester Yard.
[Goble p.954] The film's sets were designed by the
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
William Flannery. It was produced and distributed by
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City an ...
as one of the company's more prestigious releases.
Plot
A number of people are held captive by Major Ling Wu and his men, who refuse to let anyone go until identifying a spy in their midst. When he sends his assassin Sun Lee after one of the hostages, Dan Maynard, a doctor, and Knuckles Greer, a sailor, manage to intervene.
Dan is confounded by the beautiful Rita King's seeming ability to come and go as she pleases. It becomes obvious that the police chief Colonel Zorek considers himself her protector.
Ling is so determined to frighten the captives into exposing the spy that he kills his own man, Su, just to prove how far he is prepared to go. Ling tries to rape a young newlywed, Leah De Verno, and cuts the rations so that the captives have barely enough food to stay alive. Some are killed or mysteriously led away.
Zorek propositions Rita if she will cooperate. Dan still doesn't know that she is being held against her will, just like everyone else. A young girl named Penny, daughter of another interned couple, requires emergency medical help and Dan appeals to his captors to permit him to operate on the child. The only way permission is granted is for Rita to grant Zorek her favors.
A captive named Paul Grant is discovered to have a hidden radio. He has received a coded message that a rescue submarine will be waiting nearby. Dan helps him attempt an escape, but before he leaves, Grant shares with Dan the coded information, just in case.
Grant is reported dead. Dan places the blame on Rita, presuming she tipped off Zorek how to capture and kill the spy. Zorek, summoned and assuming he will be rewarded, is instead punished for permitting the escape. Dan finally becomes aware that Rita played no role in assisting their captors, and after he escapes and contacts the submarine, he goes back to rescue the others and her.
Cast
References
Bibliography
* Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
External links
*
1954 films
American crime thriller films
1950s crime thriller films
1950s English-language films
Films directed by Frank Lloyd
Republic Pictures films
Films based on American novels
Films set in Shanghai
American black-and-white films
1950s American films
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