Lazy River (1934)
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- čas přidán 24. 08. 2023
- Lazy River.
1934.
Directed by George B. Seitz, adapted from the play Ruby by Lee David Freeman, produced and screenplay by Lucien Hubbard, cinematography by Gregg Toland, edited by William LeVanway.
Starring Jean Parker, Robert Young, Ted Healy, Nat Pendleton, and C. Henry Gordon. Filmed on location in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. An MGM picture.
Copyright © 1934,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures. FAIR USE ONLY.
This deeply racist pre-code comedy features actors in yellow-face makeup and the story of a Chinese gang, murder, and illegal immigration. Nonetheless, on-location filming in Louisiana provide a rare glimpse into the Chinese and Filipino fishing villages that actually existed in Barataria Bay in 1934, as well as the fishing and shrimp drying operations that employed a diverse population of Cajun, Isleño, Italian, Croatian, German, Japanese, Latin American, and Native American fishermen.
10:14. Arrival at Barataria Bay.
40:16. Fishermen find a body in their fishing nets.
48:56. Shrimp boiling and drying.
54:09. Visiting Miss Minnie's platform.
Note the fishing boats and housing in the background of several shots, as well as the set of Miss Minnie's shrimp drying platform. The set appears to be combination of studio shots and an actual fishing platform in Barataria Bay. Several boats arrive and depart from the set, and cypress trees appear in the background. A large number of local Louisiana extras may have been employed to make this film.
Lea David Freeman was my great uncle. Thank you for this.
Robert Young was the main actor in the tv series Marcus Welby, MD. This was an interesting movie to watch.
Not sure where the Lazy River was bc it all looked fairly busy to me.
En español por favor gracias
The description of the film called it extremely "racist". Other than having a white guy play the part of as Chinese man. I don't see what's rasict about the film in general. It's not the greatest film, but entertaining enough. I liked Robert Young in most of his early films. When he and Hollywood was in it prime.
Derogatory slurs were racist.
Things that are considered racist now were typical (and accepted) attitudes and behaviors of that day....
today is the fashion to describe as racist.
The description clearly says "...Chinese and Filipino fishing villages that actually existed in Barataria Bay in 1934, as well as the fishing and shrimp drying operations that employed a diverse population of Cajun, Isleño, Italian, Croatian, German, Japanese, Latin American, and Native American fishermen." The Filipinos and Chinese created the Louisiana shrimp drying industry, and as early as the 1870s, they built dozens fishing villages around coastal Louisiana. Those aren't actors -- that is real footage of Louisiana fishermen drying shrimp in Barataria Bay using modernized versions of techniques introduced from Asia.
When this movie was made during the Great Depression, most of the shrimp dried in Louisiana was exported through the Panama Canal to markets in Asia, and exports of dried shrimp, Southern cotton, and oil to China and Japan were among the largest exports from Louisiana. American exports to Asia eclipsed trade to Europe, which suffered even more from the Depression than the U.S. The economy of coastal Louisiana was actually quite good in the 1930s due to these exports. Chinese and Filipino American merchants controlled the Louisiana shrimp drying industry and owned most the platforms, and they employed generations of Louisiana fishermen for over a century. In fact, this industry still exists today, and Louisiana still produces dried shrimp for buyers around the world. Descendants of Chinese and Filipino fishermen still live in Louisiana, and the current mayor of the city of Lafitte, Tim Kerner Jr., is a descendant of Filipino fishermen who founded a drying platform at the end of the 1800s.
But this movie ignores all that, falsely claims that all fishermen here are Cajuns, ignores all the Italian, German, and other European immigrants that worked as fishermen, and reinforces the stereotype that Cajuns are naive French-speaking rednecks that need to be rescued by an Anglo. I mean, he escaped from prison, lied to Ms. Minnie's family about who he was, and failed to tell her that her son is dead, but that's fine... Watch the 1981 movie Southern Comfort for the other stereotype about Cajuns... Also, the entire plot of the movie is about a Chinese gangster that uses fraud and murder to steal Ms. Minnie's platform for their illegal immigration operation. He literally murders an elderly family friend of Ms. Minnie, and he throws illegal immigrants overboard when the Coast Guard catches up to his boat. Imagine you're from Iowa, and the only thing you knew about Louisiana fishermen came from this movie?
Instead of trying to respect or understand the culture or people of Louisiana, Hollywood relied on lazy writing and racist stereotypes about Asians to move the plot forward. And it's a shame because there is genuine chemistry between the two main characters. Jean Parker and Robert Young give some excellent performances, and the film has a convincing romance and a compelling redemption story. Plus, there's some remarkable on-location shooting, wonderful editing and pacing, and a great musical score. The racism is just unnecessary. It would have been a better movie if they were struggling to rebuild the platform after a hurricane, or if the mafia was trying to steal the platform, since the Italian mafia actually had a major alcohol smuggling operation between Cuba and Barataria Bay during Prohibition.
I don't think I've ever seen an Italian gangster depicted in the movies as a cartoon character that speaks gibberish with a foreign accent and wear makeup to make his skin look dark -- even though this is how Italians were depicted in Vaudeville shows a generation before. In gangster movies, everyone wants to be James Cagney or Edward G. Robinson. Everyone wants to be a mob boss, wear nice suits, and get away with murder. Hollywood apparently forgot all the racist stereotypes about Italian immigrants from the turn-of-the-century. Imagine we had a smooth-talking mafia boss as our villain instead of Fu Manchu? Imagine if our Italian gangster finds out near the end of the film that Robert Young's character is an escaped felon, and he uses that information to turn the cops on our protagonist, instead of the nonsense kidnapping ending we got? My God, what if we had a Coast Guard v. gangsters shoot-out as our ending?
Some Hollywood writers heard somewhere that there were Chinese people in Louisiana, so they assumed they must be illegal immigrant smuggling triad murderers. Nobody wants to be Fu Manchu. No one wants to talk to Fu Manchu. No one wants to hire Fu Manchu. No one thinks Fu Manchu should be in this country. And in the 1930s, most Whites thought all Asians were like Fu Manchu and could never be real Americans. There was widespread discrimination against all Chinese and Filipinos in the U.S., and there were laws banning most new Asian immigrants from entering the country. All of these anti-Asian laws were repealed during the Second World War when both China and the Philippines were allied to U.S. against Japan, and throughout the war, we have movies depicting the Chinese as heroic friends of all Americans. Then after the Korean War, we have the Manchurian Candidate, and the Chinese go back to being Fu Manchu. Then we have the start of the Vietnam War, and we get a John Wayne movie where Asians are heroic friends again. Then we lose the Vietnam War, Hollywood has no idea how that happened, and Asians are depicted as both friends and enemies in the same movie. I mean, it sounds like racism and politics to me...
What a good movie! So unique, a real treat ❤