Edward Everett Horton goes from Civil Engineer to meek and mild-mannered clerk then to full-on fucking Action Hero! Though an inebriated Chauncey Carson (Richard Dix) is the prime protagonist, the film becomes much more interesting with a great supporting cast including the mysterious Gwili Andre, Zasu Pitts, Arline Judge, Toshia Mori, C. Henry Gordon and the above-mentioned Mr. Horton! The direction is quick and well-paced yet allows a few moments of intimacy with the supporting cast, so when the final act explodes, we feel saddened by the loss and sacrifice of the peripheral cast.
Set in Manchuria (yet filmed in Hollywood, of course), the evil rogue Voronosky (C. Henry Gordon) rapes and pillages the countryside and finally attacks the city of Yolung, where a group of Americans have fortified themselves in a riverside hotel awaiting the chance to escape: will their riverboat be repaired in time? Capt. Carson falls for the fatale femme Natascha (Gwili Andre, looking very Myrna Loy-ish), sex slave to the bandit leader. Various others bicker and argue but must eventually join together to hold off the bandits until the boat is repaired. Most of the film develops the comradery between characters while cross-cutting with the action outside the hotel walls. Fortunately, Capt. Carson has an ace up his sleeve or, more precisely, a .50 caliber machine gun in the tower!
So, Capt. Carson falls in love with Natascha, Busby (Edward Everett Horton) falls for the ingenue Hortense O’Dare (Arline Judge), while the whiny unnamed character (ZaSu Pitts) adds humor amid the pathos. The film is ripe with contemporary stereotypes and racism, as most of the Asian characters are depicted as savage and inhuman, though we do get a significant supporting role from Toshia Mori who is intelligent and decisive. White entitlement abounds. The final act depicts scores of bandits being machine gunned to death, some writhing in agony amid their death throes! And who is behind the Browning? None other than our pal Edward Everett Horton! Wow! After his girl is shot by a sniper while wrangling up a stray child, he becomes an angel of death raining lead upon the invaders. But it’s Chauncy Carson who gets the final act of heroism, carrying Busby’s broken body through a gauntlet of gunfire and makes the great escape at the very last moment. Voronosky dead and his girl safe in Carson’s arms, the ship departs leaving the dead to bury the dead.
Final Grade: (B-)