New Doco Shines Light on Hollywood’s Racial History
A new documentary that highlights Hollywood’s racial past had its debut at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea this week.
Filmmaker Yunah Hong’s documentary looks at the first Chinese-American actress, Anna May Wong, in Hollywood. “Anna May Wong: In Her Own Words” shows a poignant profile of Hollywood’s first Chinese-American movie star and the first Asian American to become an international star.
Born in 1905, Wong started her film career in the silent film, “The Toll of the Sea”. She went on to star in 50 other films over a 20-year career. She went on to play small roles alongside Marlene Dietrich in “Shanghai Express” and with Douglas Fairbanks in “The Thief of Baghdad”.
However, during the Production Code policy in Hollywood from 1930-1968, her career died down in the States and she moved to Europe where her cabaret act earned her acclaim in Berlin, London and Paris in the 1920s and 30s.
The Production Code didn’t allow for interracial sex and often used Western actors to portray Asians. This limited Wong’s roles to the temptress or the villain.
Wong lobbied for the lead role in O-Lan but MGM had already cast an American actor for the male lead, leaving Wong’s hopes dashed.
“It was her dream to play that role and really make a breakthrough in terms of an Asian actress in a serious lead,” says director Hong in a recent interview. “But it never happened and it’s never really happened since.”
After years of heavy drinking, Wong died in LA at the age of 56 due to a heart attack.
The documentary cobbles together archival footage and news, clips from Wong’s films and her letters. What proved to be most insightful were the letters to American writer and photographer, Carl Van Vechten, with whom she corresponded to for 30 years.
“The problem was that Hollywood studios were scared to cast an Asian woman as a lead, scared of the fact that the audience could not accept that,” says Hong. “It remains pretty much the same today. The fact is – in America at least – the Asian audience is small and studios won’t take many risks.”
Hong was born in Seoul and raised in New York. Her other film includes “Becoming an Actress in New York” (2000) which looks at the struggles of Asian American actresses.