The Yellow Claw (film)
The Yellow Claw is a 1921 British silent crime film directed by René Plaissetty and starring Sydney Seaward, Arthur M. Cullin and Harvey Braban. The film was shot partly at Cricklewood Studios[2] and ran 68 minutes.[3] It was based on the 1915 novel The Yellow Claw by Sax Rohmer, in which a French detective battles a notorious master criminal named Mr. King.
| The Yellow Claw | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | René Plaissetty |
| Produced by | Oswald Stoll |
| Written by | Sax Rohmer (novel) Gerard Fort Buckle |
| Starring | Sydney Seaward Arthur M. Cullin Harvey Braban Annie Esmond |
| Cinematography | Jack E. Cox |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Stoll Pictures |
Release date | January 1921 |
Running time | 6,200 feet[1] |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | Silent English intertitles |
Producer Stoll went on to release another xenophobic Yellow Peril film called Mr. Wu in 1919 (which was remade in 1927 with Lon Chaney in the lead), a 15-film Fu Manchu series called The Mystery of Dr. Fu Manchu in 1923, and an eight-film series in 1924 called The Further Mysteries of Dr. Fu Manchu, both series starring Harry Agar Lyons as Fu.[4]
Plot
A frightened woman is murdered in the London apartment of a well-known novelist named Henry Leroux. The police arrest Leroux's butler, but he escapes and runs off to a mysterious opium den, the lair of a drug dealer named Mister King. Gaston Max, a detective from Paris, arrives in London to investigate the drug trafficking. Although the police take down the gang, Mr. King escapes and manages to keep his true identity a secret.
Cast
- Sydney Seaward as Inspector Dunbar
- Arthur M. Cullin as Dr. Cumberley
- Harvey Braban as Gaston Max
- Annie Esmond as Denise Ryland
- Norman Page as Soames
- Kitty Fielder as Lady of the Poppies
- Kiyoshi Takase as Ho-Pin
- A.C. Fotheringham-Lysons as Henry Leroux
- Mary Massart as Helen Cumberley
- Cyril Percival as John Howard Edel
- Ivy King as Mrs. Leroux
- June Tripp as Mrs. Vernon
- Eric Albury as Gianopolis
- Geoffrey Benstead as Sowerby
References
- Low 1971, p. 485.
- Low 1971, p. 124.
- Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 231. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.
- Workman & Howarth 2016, p. 231.
Sources
- Low, Rachael (1971). History of the British Film, 1918-1929. George Allen & Unwin.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era. Midnight Marquee Press. p. 231. ISBN 978-1936168-68-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)</ref>