Chu Chin Chow – Special Edition (1934 Set)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: B-     Main Feature: B-

 

 

It is a given that older films can be politically incorrect and now seemingly insensitive, but Chu Chin Chow is a British Musical from 1934 that has been lost and unrestored for years.  VCI has issued the reconstructed original in a three-DVD set with DVD 2 offering the butchered Ali Baba Nights version and DVD 3 with the film Abdul The Damned from 1935.  Fritz Kortner plays Abu Hassan in the first film, and Abdul Hamid II in the other.  That film is more watchable than expected, if not as spectacular as the main film saved.

 

The fully restored film is impressive, pieced together much the way Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1926, reviewed elsewhere on this site) was, but with loyal collectors helping out in this case.  In its original form, it is a key early British Musical, based on the phenomenally successful 1916 stage musical, not seen in its entirety since its 1934 premiere!  The wacky Ali Baba Nights tries to cut this down and turn it into some kind of children’s-aimed adventure film, which is extremely racist as the cutting figures these are all characters that are exotic stereotypes and should be emphasized as such.  The great thing about having it here to compare is to show that even when the original Musical does not quite work, it is ambitious as compared to the butchered version.

 

The film is basically a Musical version of the literary classic Ali Baba & The Forty Thieves, mixing Asian and Muslim characters.  This later became fodder for all kinds of children’s programming and quickly a target of pop trivialization.  Here, the material is treated with enough respect and holds up shocking well in context for as old as it is.  Anna May Wong steals almost every scene she is in, but as I watched the then-huge Michael Balcon production, it reminded me of the awkward early Hollywood Musicals.  Both industries were trying to find their way in mating music and image, with the irony that many of these innovations were taking place in non-Musical films.  It may be awkward and even unintentionally funny in places, but Chu Chin Chow is ambitious and unique, which is why it is a big deal that it has been reconstructed and saved.

 

The 1.33 X 1 monochrome full frame image shows its age with varying quality throughout form the various sources used to recreate it.  Sometimes, the footage is degraded and down a few generations, but this is watchable for its age.  Part of the reason is the cinematography by Max Greenbaum, which made a good film that much better.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is just as aged, but careful reconstruction has helped audio flaws and problems, though the film is just so old that some of its agedness cannot be helped.  Extras on DVD 1 include audio commentary by Jay Fenton that is usually good, who restored the film, still of Wong, stills of lobby cards, a montage from pressbook materials and stills set to music in all cases.   You also get a pie fight clip, bonus music, scenes from Piccadilly with Wong that are not in great shape, but give you an idea of what to expect if you buy the DVD Milestone just put out, text biographies of the three stars and director.

 

The DVD case has a great foldout on the film with text and some pictures, while DVD 2’s extras repeat the bios and stills of the first disc, add trailers for three other VCI DVD titles (Blonde Ice, … and then there were none, and The Southerner; all reviewed on this site) and a Popeye color animated short Popeye The Sailor Meets Ali Baba’s Forty Thieves, one of the few Fleischer Studio Popeye’s in color.  VCI issued all of them on their Popeye set, which we also have covered on the site.  DVD 3 has text bios of the three stars and a trailer for VCI DVD Noir series.  So the extras become less and less, but this is a very well rounded set.

 

On Mr. Fenton’s commentary, he talks about DVD and offers some inaccuracies.  He says DVDs are known as Digital Video Discs in the U.S. and Digital Versatile Discs in the U.K., but that is wrong.  The idea that they are Digital Video Discs happened by accident in the U.S., as they have been Digital Versatile Discs in the U.S. since day one and DVD is only archival for extras, but not for the actual programs.  Even digital High Definition is not as good as film, so lower-def DVDs certainly cannot cut it.  That does not mean they are not collectible, just the way 12” LaserDiscs were (and in some cases definitely still are) to this day.  Even some VHS & Beta titles have yet to be issued in any optical disc format, so go figure.  Chu Chin Chow is worth the time to view it just as a great piece of little-focused-on British film history and of its stars not forgotten like Wong.

 

Of course, after the events of 9/11/01, Islam is not seen the same way it used to be seen.  For some viewers, watching any of this might just be too much.  Few of the actors are truly Arab in these films, so it is not exactly realistic.  It just reminds us of the resentment between two cultures, sans any stereotypical exotic connotations you might find here.  Needless to say for one more resent reason, you will never see this kind of filmmaking again.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo