Hai
Tang, The
Flame of Love, (aka The Road to Dishonour) with Anna May Wong.
British International/UFA 1930. Directed by Richard Eichberg.
Vintage
poster 100 x 70 cm, lithograph in four colours. Ivar
Haegströms lito. Stockholm 1931 (Sweden). Art by
Einar Ström (1905-1969). The fond on the stage are
printed in chining guild colour, not visible at the photography. Tears in the
bottom, otherwise in very god condition.
THE FILM:
Anna May Wong as Hai-tang in the film a young Chinese dancer
who falls for a Russian military
officer, but their affair is complicated when the officer’s
superior sets his sights on her. Wong toned down the American accent
in her speaking debut, the silent star Wong a great attraction to
contemporary audiences. In 1930 Wong also mastered enough German and
French versions at the
same time to play the role of Hai-Tang in two foreign-language, with different
male leads.
THE ACTRESS:
Anna May Wong (1905-1961) – nee Wong Liu Tsong, she was born, on
Los Angeles' Chinatown. The legendary Anna May Wong growing up in Hollywood
during the heyday of silent films, she was only 14 in the Films debut as the
lantern bearers in The Red Lantern, 1919. By the time Anna graduated
from high school in 1921. In 1922 she was cast in the lead role of Lotus
Flower in one of the first Technicolor films, The toll of the Sea. She
was beautiful, tall (5'7"), slender, and Chinese-American. Anna could not
become a major star, since love scenes with occidental actors were not
permitted on screen. Anna had become disgusted with the Hollywood system. Wong
left for Europe, Berlin Paris and London. Piccadilly, 1929. Hai Tang,
1930, the German version of the Flame of Love.
Anna grew into a sophisticated woman of culture and style. she was
living at the swank Claridge´s Hotel in London making friends and films that
finally showcased her great talent. London society accepted her totally. In
London she had a widely praised night club engagement at the Embassy Club
where she sang and danced. After a short but successful career in European
films, she returned to America, however, found Asian roles stereotypical. The
monotonous tone in her voice, had also returned.
The Daughter of Fu Manuchu in Daughter of Dragon, 1931 with
she’s friend Warner Oland, the Swedish born actor, the film was popular with
the public. In Shanghai Express, 1932 with she friends Marlene Dietrich
gave Anna an excellent performance. She planned long trip to China. In 1937
she wrote of her experiences in China in a series of articles published by the
New York Herald Tribune. Anna loved to study and writing, she spoke with English accent as well as being fluent German
and French and well Italian and Yiddish. She hade studied piano and painting
but had given up the former because it ruined her long fingernails. Although
Anna was very social. Anna, who never married. Where during World War II with
Hollywood’s lack of interest in her as an actor, she took to drinking, and
died in 1961. Anna May Wong despite a long and varied career and to this day
the most famous of Hollywood’s Asian actress to become an international
celebrity and appeared in over 50 films. From laundryman’s daughter to
Hollywood legend.
Biography. Anna May Wong : From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood
Legend. Graham Russell Gao Hodges. Palgrave Macmillan. 304 p. 2003.
