Nothing like a jolly old 30s film to fill an hour of another day retired in Thailand when it's too hot to do much else.

Did anyone notice that Miss Ralston turned in her usual bubbly and apparently extemporaneous performance? She could have just plodded through this dreck but instead she livened it up and obviously was having fun.

Another worthwhile film to watch. It may not have the greatest
script, or actors , but is fun to watch.

This is a wonderful little time capsule. The acting is as good as you got back then (Yeah I know, the timing can be a bit stagy, but remember when this was made) and I really enjoyed the trip.

I expected nothing from this film, but was drawn in by the shocking murder in the opening, and solid B character performances from stars Esther Ralston, J. Farrell MacDonald, Sidney Blackmer, and even a stiff Regis Toomey. But their efforts were sabotaged by an astoundingly shoddy production. All other actors are amateurish, and the gangsters have zero toughness. Worse, you can hear them blow their lines, yet the camera keeps on rolling. But the ultimate stunner was a fight scene where the stunt double is more clearly visible than any film I've ever seen - taller than the star, different hairstyle, and face NOT hidden!
On the positive side: no fake Chinamen, but real actors who even speak a little - although this was not a film you'd want to list on your resume.

I was a frtiend of the STAR, Esther Ralston. This was a "programmer" ... and as such, it featured actually talented people in inane scripts ... usually, this was the first of a double feature. Esther was most notably recognized for her celestial work in Betty Bronson silent film starrer PETER PAN. A good effort. Sort of like LAW AND ORDER ... allowing "Mature" stars to be featured somewhere on celluloid.

Maybe a little long for the content but it is free and what do you want for nothing?
I liked it and think it should be watched.

A disappointingly dull Âactioner here, that tells of evil Chinese smugglers (which, interestingly enough, are being stashed over the border in Mexico. All of this of course, is controlled by gangsters. A blonde socialite is soon caught up in all of this by getting wooed by the head honcho of this enterprise, who decides to use her for his own means. Luckily, the hotshot police detective hired to the case also has the hots for her..
I was actually surprised at how incompetent this movie was. Filled with boring dialogue, inane fight sequences, and gun fight sequences taken right out of the ÂPolice Squad book of crimefighting,. But at least the beginning (where a pilot has a hilarious, and unexpected way to deal with unwanted cargo), and the ending, with itÂs plane chase (but not the ridiculous plane chase before it, where a plane with a machine gun canÂt shoot a plane down thatÂs 10 feet in front of it) is interesting, but the rest is an unmitigated bore.

Really interesting early aviation scenes. The movie is worth watching and mercifully short.

Everybody seems to know how to fly an airplane in ÃÂÃÂShadows of the Orient,ÃÂÃÂ including gang boss Sidney Blackmer, brash young detective Regis Toomey, and even the ubiquitous debutante heroine, Esther Ralston. But to paraphrase an original review of this little potboiler, the story dates back much farther than its airborne conveyances. All the way back, in fact to the ÃÂÃÂYellow PerilÃÂÃÂ days of the 1910s when what was then derogatorily termed ÃÂÃÂChinamenÃÂÃÂ could send shivers down the spine of any upstanding American. Yet despite the less than politically correct terminology ÃÂÃÂ the smuggling of Chinese across the Mexican border could just as easily have been bootleg whisky and is merely a plot contrivance ÃÂÃÂ ÃÂÃÂShadows of the OrientÃÂÃÂ zips along merrily enough with fun performances by everyone from former silent star Ralston to busy B-Film menace Blackmer. If nothing else, proverbial shoestring producer Larry Darmour knew how to spin a yarn with the least amount of fuss.

It is a MELODRAMA as revealed by the advertising *Love is a dangerous game where a woman,s beauty s the pawn of sinister clutching hands* At the beginning of the film these words appear *the smugglers have no regard for human life and resort to any means to accomplish their selfish ends* SO we know what to expect from the rest of the film..Let us not be superior, much of our television is of similar quality. So relax and enjoy..at least we have never seen this film or many of its actors before and the old clothng is fun to watch