CHU CHIN CHOW!

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CHU CHIN CHOW!
Topic Started: Sep 25 2005, 09:03 PM (159 Views)
Bonga	Sep 25 2005, 09:03 PM Post #1
Charter Member Posts: 131 Group: Members Member #19 Joined: September 4, 2005	There are so many puns which can be made of the title of this 1934 oddity that one scarcely knows where to begin. But like Winnemucca, the name says it all. Obscure today, Chu Chin Chow was for years the longest running production in British theater history, running for an astonishing 2,238 performances. It is a loose musical version of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, and was made into a film in 1934 that is currently being given a Criterion-style release by VCI, in a three disc set, with commentary track, liner notes, poster and pressbook gallery, bonus musical tracks, etc. Visually, Chu Chin Chow occupies a middle ground between the Fairbanks and the Korda versions of The Thief of Baghdad. It has elaborate sets, beautiful temples, florid costumes, etc. Musically it's hard to find a comparison, since the sound is quite muddy. It's an odd movie. It's both very ornate and very dull, and despite its considerable scope never escapes feeling stagey, while at the same time being unusually harsh and violent for a thirties musical. Anna May Wong, who plays a slave girl in the Fairbanks Thief, also plays a slave girl here, although an entirely evil and scheming one, in league with Abu Hassan, who is the first among the forty thieves. He's played by Fritz Kortner, who has a theatrical hamminess that seems more suited to silent film, although his voice is also impressive. The guy who played Inspector Lestrade in the Sherlock Holmes films also shows up. Chu Chin Chow has a lot more curiosity value than cinematic value. Personally, if I want huge sets and scantily clad slaves, I prefer the Fairbanks Thief. But VCI has done a prestigous job assembling the materials for this release. They have included a shortened American version, called Ali Baba Nights, which is less comprehensible (it starts oddly, smack in the middle of a scene), and another Kortner film, equally obscure, called Abdul the Damned, about the decline of the Ottoman empire--this is actually the best thing about the set, eerie, atmospheric and compelling. I bought this on a whim when I ran across it in the store and was intrigued. I had never heard of it, and since buying it, nobody I have spoken to has ever heard of it either. Has anyone else seen this thing? I can't really recommend it, but I would love to hear someone else's impressions.


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