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(1942, PRC) Alan Baxter, Gertrude Michael, Ernest Dorian, Corrina Mura, Tommy Seidel. How do you accurately describe this movie? It's really awful, yet mesmerizing in its awfulness. It's not a schlocky bad like Plan 9 from Outer Space, rather, it's like a really pitiful attempt at something that should have been good. Baxter, normally a perennial tough guy, plays an incredibly weak pacifist who allows the Japanese to take over his home and use it to house a new directional shortwave unit that can pinpoint U.S. warships for bombing raids. Dorian, a real-life German with a German accent, plays the head Japanese villain who's not afraid to kill anybody, including little children, wounded soldiers, and even his wife. The script, in places, is so stupid that you just burst out laughing, like when Baxter refuses to destroy the enemy's shortwave unit because"they'll just repair it." Yet the last scene between Baxter and Michael is surprisingly touching. We've never seen anything quite like this movie. It is, perhaps, the worst movie ever made by PRC…and therefore…a must! From 16mm.
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