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S A P H i R E

PRESENTS: CHU CHIN CHOW (1934)

MOViE iNFORMATiON

[ THEATRE DATE....: May, 1934
[ RELEASE DATE....: 7/1/2005
[ STORE DATE......: 5/31/2005
[ GENRE...........: Comedy/Musical/Romance
[ RUNTiME.........: 102 Minutes
[ RATiNG..........: 5.1/10 (10 votes)
[ NO. SCREENiNGS..: ???

[ ViDEO BiTRATE...: 877 kBit/s XviD at 23.976fps
[ AUDiO BiTRATE...: 80 kBit/s Mono MP3 at 48KHZ, EN
[ ASPECT RATiO....: 1.37:1
[ RESOLUTiON......: 528x384
[ ARCHiVES........: sph-chu.chin.chow.rar *50x15*
[ AVi SiZE........: 701 MB * 718,370 KB * 735,610,880 B ]
[ SUBTiTLES.......: None

M O V i E   S U M M A R Y

The timeworn British stage musical Chu Chin Chow had already been
made into a silent picture when this talkie version made its bow in
1934. Based on Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, the film stars corpulent
music-hall comedian George Robey as Ali Baba, sinister Fritz Kortner
as robber captain Abu Hahan, and exotic Anna May Wong as slave girl
Zahrat, who saves Ali's life by properly applying oil to a collection
of not-so-empty barrels. The obligatory romantic subplot is handled
by John Garrick and Pearl Argyle, while comedy relief is supplied by
vaudevillian named Jetsam (that's right, of the team of "Flotsam
and...") Director Walter Forde does little to "cinematize" the old
property, which is just as well. Originally released at 93 minutes,
Chu Chin Chow was shorn of about 5 minutes before its American release;
presumably some of the sexier "nautch" dances were among the excised
scenes.

This is the hundreth anniversary of Anna May Wong's birth, and there
are books, documentaries and DVDs of her films being released. Maybe
someday we'll even get a DVD of Shanghai Express where she almost
steals the film from Marlene Dietrich. Quite a feat. Criterion is
rumored to be working on it.

Director .......  Walter Forde

George Robey ...  Ali Baba
Anna May Wong ..  Zahrat
Fritz Kortner ..  Abu Hasan
Pearl Argyle ...  Maryana, servant girl

M O R E  i N F O R M A T i O N

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024978/
RETAIL DVD: http://www.dvdempire.com/exec/v4_item.asp?item_id=688949

ASCii PROUDLY DONE BY: fumita