Old San Francisco (1927) had to have been made with only its special effects and Vitaphone soundtrack as the major attractions, because the story is extremely old-fashioned by 1927 standards. It feels like the sort of plot one would see in a movie from the 1910s.
The characters are flat as can be, especially the ingenue played by Dolores Costello. Warner Oland plays the yellow peril villain, who indulges in every crime: stealing the property of others, imprisoning his dwarf brother, oppressing Chinese Americans, and sneaking into Costello's house at night in an attempt to sully her virtue. It's just terrible.
One reviewer scolded the other user reviews for projecting contemporary attitudes onto an old film. While this gives the film a little leeway and I think we should put more energy into the still prevalent racism of current Hollywood cinema, that does not make the overt racism against Asian-Americans in this film okay or any less uncomfortable to watch.
The effects are unimpressive compared to other special effects-heavy films of the decade and the acting is barely competent. Skip it.
The characters are flat as can be, especially the ingenue played by Dolores Costello. Warner Oland plays the yellow peril villain, who indulges in every crime: stealing the property of others, imprisoning his dwarf brother, oppressing Chinese Americans, and sneaking into Costello's house at night in an attempt to sully her virtue. It's just terrible.
One reviewer scolded the other user reviews for projecting contemporary attitudes onto an old film. While this gives the film a little leeway and I think we should put more energy into the still prevalent racism of current Hollywood cinema, that does not make the overt racism against Asian-Americans in this film okay or any less uncomfortable to watch.
The effects are unimpressive compared to other special effects-heavy films of the decade and the acting is barely competent. Skip it.