''Confessions of an Opium Eater'' also known as Souls for Sale and Evils of Chinatown is a 1962 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 ...

produced and directed by

Albert Zugsmith Albert Zugsmith (April 24, 1910 – October 26, 1993) was an American film producer, film director and screenwriter who specialized in low-budget exploitation films through the 1950s and 1960s. With a background in music promotion (Ted Weems, P ...

. It is loosely based on the 1822 autobiographical novel '' Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'', written by Thomas De Quincey. After circulating for years as a

bootleg Bootleg or bootlegging most often refers to: * Bootleg recording, an audio or video recording released unofficially * Rum-running, the illegal business of transporting and trading in alcoholic beverages, hence: ** Moonshine, or illicitly made ...

, it was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

as part of the

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

in 2012. This film stars

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...

as Gilbert de Quincey, a nineteenth-century adventurer who becomes involved in a

tong war The Tong Wars were a series of violent disputes beginning in the late 19th century among rival Chinese Tong factions centered in the Chinatowns of various American cities, in particular San Francisco. Tong wars could be triggered by a variety o ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Price also narrated the film, whose evocative cinematography resembles a nightmare. The film was something of a departure for Price; the prolific actor never performed another role that involved so much physical action.

Plot

In 1902, adventurer Gilbert De Quincey, a descendant of Thomas De Quincey. is hired by the editor of a Chinese newspaper to stop auctions of

trafficked ''Trafficked'' is a 2017 American thriller drama film directed by Will Wallace and starring Ashley Judd, Sean Patrick Flanery and Anne Archer. Plot In California, Sara is eighteen and has to leave her foster home; she is offered training to be a ...

Chinese women to be the brides of Chinese men resident in the United States. The community is split down the middle with those feeling the traditional practice is the only way for overseas Chinese to obtain brides, and those who regard the practise as indecent.

Cast

as Gilbert De Quincey * Linda Ho as Ruby Low * Richard Loo as George Wah * June Kyoto Lu as Lotus (as June Kim) * Philip Ahn as Ching Foon * Yvonne Moray as the midget girl with sing-sing voice * Caroline Kido as Lo Tsen * Terence De Marney as Englishman in opium den

Reception

In 1998,

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...

of the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...

'' included the film in his unranked list of the best American films not included on the AFI Top 100.

Quotes

''I am De Quincey. I dream, and I create dreams — out of the opium pipe. I see sailing into our vision a junk. Its cargo: women. Women bought or stolen from all over the mysterious Orient. Their destination, and mine: the human auctions in Chinatown.''

Trivia

James Hong was given a script in 1962. He thought it was terrible – "all the roles were the opium dope people and the prostitutes and so forth." He and approached

to make a case for a rewrite.

References

External links

* 1962 films 1962 crime drama films American crime drama films American black-and-white films Allied Artists films Films based on non-fiction books Films set in San Francisco Films scored by Albert Glasser Chinatown, San Francisco in fiction Films about race and ethnicity Films about opium 1960s exploitation films Psychedelic films Surrealist films Works about human trafficking Works about sex trafficking Human trafficking in the United States Films about human trafficking in the United States Films about substance abuse Films set in 1902 1960s English-language films Films directed by Albert Zugsmith 1960s American films {{1960s-crime-drama-film-stub