Comments on: Anna May Wong documentary premiere in London http://www.dianying.com/en/blog/2008/02/07/frosted-yellow-willows/ Chinese movies and Chinese Movie Database blog Wed, 14 May 2008 03:30:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: radon http://www.dianying.com/en/blog/2008/02/07/frosted-yellow-willows/#comment-21127 radon Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:32:15 +0000 http://www.dianying.com/en/blog/2008/02/07/frosted-yellow-willows/#comment-21127 Hello. Very interesting and helped blog for me. I learn english with movies. Help me please on my blog http://en-in-ru.blogspot.com. Welcome Hello. Very interesting and helped blog for me. I learn english with movies. Help me please on my blog http://en-in-ru.blogspot.com. Welcome

]]> By: Bruce Calvert http://www.dianying.com/en/blog/2008/02/07/frosted-yellow-willows/#comment-17792 Bruce Calvert Fri, 08 Feb 2008 04:15:14 +0000 http://www.dianying.com/en/blog/2008/02/07/frosted-yellow-willows/#comment-17792 I caught this documentary last week in Austin, Texas, and I was very impressed with it. The film focused on Anna May Wong's family life and career. Director Elaine Woo dug up tons of newspaper articles, lobby cards, stills, and of course film clips to illustrate her career. The film also illustrated the difficulties of a person of Chinese heritage living in the USA (especially California) during the first half of the last century. It details Ms. Wong's tireless efforts to aid the Chinese after Japan invaded China in the late 1930s. Every Cinephile needs to make an effort to see this film. The one thing that really impressed me was her performances in the German film Hai-Tang (1930). Not only did she speak German in the original version, but she played the same role speaking French in the French version and speaking English in the English version. During the Q&A session afterward, Ms. Woo said that no DVD release is planned so far. She is working on a large book featuring many photos of Ms. Wong, plus many, many interviews of people who knew or worked with her. She was negotiating with TCM to have the documentary shown there. I was famaliar with AMW, having seen several of her silent films like Toll of the Sea and Thief of Baghdad, but you will really want to seek out her films after seeing this documentary. Ms. Woo said that she chose not to cover Wong's personal life (except for her family's life) because she didn't want to overload the uninitiated with information. She also said that it is really just a modern issue to want to know about an historic person's vices and personal troubles. The score by Jon Mirsalis was very nice. There are already three Anna May Wong biographies out and I'll have to read at least one of them before Ms. Woo's book project is released. I caught this documentary last week in Austin, Texas, and I was very impressed with it.

The film focused on Anna May Wong’s family life and career. Director Elaine Woo dug up tons of newspaper articles, lobby cards, stills, and of course film clips to illustrate her career. The film also illustrated the difficulties of a person of Chinese heritage living in the USA (especially California) during the first half of the last century. It details Ms. Wong’s tireless efforts to aid the Chinese after Japan invaded China in the late 1930s. Every Cinephile needs to make an effort to see this film.

The one thing that really impressed me was her performances in the German film Hai-Tang (1930). Not only did she speak German in the original version, but she played the same role speaking French in the French version and speaking English in the English version.

During the Q&A session afterward, Ms. Woo said that no DVD release is planned so far. She is working on a large book featuring many photos of Ms. Wong, plus many, many interviews of people who knew or worked with her. She was negotiating with TCM to have the documentary shown there.

I was famaliar with AMW, having seen several of her silent films like Toll of the Sea and Thief of Baghdad, but you will really want to seek out her films after seeing this documentary. Ms. Woo said that she chose not to cover Wong’s personal life (except for her family’s life) because she didn’t want to overload the uninitiated with information. She also said that it is really just a modern issue to want to know about an historic person’s vices and personal troubles.

The score by Jon Mirsalis was very nice. There are already three Anna May Wong biographies out and I’ll have to read at least one of them before Ms. Woo’s book project is released.

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