Thursday, December 19, 2019

Shadows Over Shanghai (1938)

An enjoyable spy caper set in Shanghai during the Japanese invasion of China. An amulet which can raise funds to help buy the Chinese weapons in their fight against the Japanese ends up in the hands of Irene (Lynda Grey). She heads to Shanghai to try and get on a boat to America. However brutal Soviet agent Sargoza (Robert Barrat) is determined to get the amulet for himself...

Sargoza is foiled by happy-go-lucky reporter Johnny (James Dunn) and the slightly mysterious Barclay (Ralph Morgan) who seems to always have a friend who can help and a plan. To complicate matters the Japanese in the form of Yokohama (Paul Sutton) are also after the amulet and, while the bombs are dropping on Shanghai, will stop at nothing to get it...

A low budget film but makes the most of what it has, especially with the heavy use of stock footage during the bombing. Dunn provides the humour though his wise cracks can sometimes fall a bit flat.