Hai-Tang

This article is about the French-language 1930 film starring Anna May Wong. For the German-language version, see The Road to Dishonour. For the English-language version, see The Flame of Love.
For other uses, see Haitang (disambiguation).

Hai-Tang
Swedish poster
Le Chemin du déshonneur
Directed byRichard Eichberg
Jean Kemm
Written byMonckton Hoffe
Pierre Maudru
Ludwig Wolff
Produced byRichard Eichberg
StarringAnna May Wong
Marcel Vibert
Robert Ancelin
CinematographyHeinrich Gärtner
Bruno Mondi
Music byHans May
Production
companies
Release date
  • September 1930 (1930-09)
Running time
80 minutes
CountriesGermany
United Kingdom
LanguageFrench

Hai-Tang, also known as Le Chemin du déshonneur (The Road to Dishonour) is a 1930 British-German drama film directed by Richard Eichberg and Jean Kemm and starring Anna May Wong, Marcel Vibert and Robert Ancelin.[1] It was made at Elstree Studios.

Multiple-language versions

Like many other films of the early talkie era before dubbing became more widespread, the film was shot in multiple-language versions, each with a different cast. Three versions of the film were made so they could be screened throughout Europe and the colonial world, such as in Mozambique, Australia and South Africa.[2] This was Wong's first sound film billed as the star,[3][4][Note 1] and in all three versions she appeared as the female lead.

An English-language version (The Flame of Love/The Road to Dishonour) and a German-language version (Hai-Tang: Der Weg zur Schande) of the film were made with different casts[Note 2] except for Wong, who spoke her part in three different languages. The French-language version was sometimes referred to as L’Amour, maître des choses in French film magazines).[5] Confusingly, all three versions are often referred to simply as Hai-Tang.[6]

Synopsis

In the Russian Empire, a young officer and a powerful Grand Duke both fall in love with a Chinese woman.

Cast

Notes

  1. ^ Wong acted in one of several vignettes in the earlier 1930 musical film review Elstree Calling.
  2. ^ Ley On played Hai-Tang's brother Wang-Hu in all three versions.

References

  1. ^ St. Pierre p.83
  2. ^ Lim 2019, p. 34.
  3. ^ Hodges 2004, p. 88.
  4. ^ Lim 2019, p. 83.
  5. ^ Lim 2019, p. 107.
  6. ^ Chan 2003, p. 217.

Sources

  • Chan, Anthony B. (2003). Perpetually Cool: The Many Lives of Anna May Wong (1905–1961). Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-4789-2.
  • Hodges, Graham Russell Gao (2004). Anna May Wong: From Laundryman's Daughter to Hollywood Legend (3rd ed.). Chicago: Chicago Review Press Incorporated. ISBN 978-1-64160-883-1.
  • Lim, Shirley Jennifer (2019). Anna May Wong: Performing the Modern. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-4399-1834-0.
  • St. Pierre, Paul Matthew (2010). E.A. Dupont and his Contribution to British Film: Varieté, Moulin Rouge, Piccadilly, Atlantic, Two Worlds, Cape Forlorn. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 978-1611474336.

See also


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