Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Helloturia I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

venusboys3 I'm sure everyone has to mention the most obvious thing about this movie, that nearly all the characters are Chinese played by non-chinese actors. But this is no Charlie Chan with silly accents. None of the actors engage in cheap stereotypes. There's nothing here that's anywhere near as embarrassing as Mickey Rooney's Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's... or, much more recently, Johnny Depp's version of Tonto in The Lone Ranger. The story itself depicts the Chinese American community in a generally favorable light... despite its focus being on the Tongs of San Francisco's Chinatown. Robinson's Tong assassin is an honorable and admirable man, despite his profession.So with that out of the way, this was a pretty great story and Robinson's character is complex. He wants to be free of his violent past as an assassin for the Tong, he wants to acclimate to life in the U.S. and be a good citizen... but he's also tied to tradition and sworn oaths. It's was less formulaic than I'd expect, I wasn't quite sure where it was leading till I was 3/4 through it. Seeing as it's pre-code it's not as overtly moralistic as later films. It looks great too. There are some nice sets and costumes and Ms. Young was particularly elegant. It's not a happy story, but it's entertaining and unusual. I'm kind of surprised someone hasn't remade it, with a less controversial cast.

Tad Pole . . . was born in some far-off foreign land such as Hungary, Australia, Romania, or Canadia. THE HATCHET MAN reveals that the LITTLE GIANT's native shore actually was some place in China. Several times during this documentary from the early 1930s Robinson (nee Wong Low Get) spews forth a string of Asiatic Lingo that would do President Xi proud. Many have said that Robinson always looks uncomfortable in the various double-breasted Western Gangster suits in which many of his movie roles doll him up. The explanation for this ill-ease becomes apparent during the opening scenes of THE HATCHET MAN. "Eddie" has never looked more at home than in his Native Tong garb. As he shares with us the ins and outs of a Chinese Sharia Law Variant, Americans can pick up on the many nuances that separate Our way of thinking from the Oriental Mind. Eddie's a hitman who never has to wonder if he's brought enough bullets before the battle begins, or if he's washed off all the GSR when the war has waned. After all, who would bring a gun to a hatchet fight?

st-shot It's Occidentals playing Orientals in this dare I say choppy tale of a Tong hit-man that employs hatchets to perform his tasks. Edward G Robinson makes for an odd looking Asian Eastwood but he still manages to give a powerfully emotional performance while Loretta Young as his wife has never looked more exotically alluring.Robinson as Wong Low Get is dispatched to kill his best friend to settle a Chinatown dispute and stave off a war between rival factions. He hesitates at first but it becomes a matter of honor and duty. Ironically the victim wills all he has including his daughter to Wong Low with the intent of having him marry her when she is of age. She consents to marriage but soon becomes involved with an old beau and runs off with him in turn ruining the now respectable business owner Wong. Taking up the hatchet he sets out for China to get her back.Hatchet Man's episodic structure moves at a lightning pace allowing little time for smooth continuity and character development. While some of the characters have a stereotypical Fu Manchu demeanor Wellman shows respect for the culture and tradition by juxtaposing it against the crass western (gangsterism) ways being embraced by a new disrespectful generation of Chinese. Conversley he points out unrealistic archaic attitudes that are out of touch in the twentieth century which contribute to Wong's dilemma as he attempts to change with the times but maintain a balance of the honorable tradition as well. It is this tradition that brings him back to China to attempt to rescue Sun Toy in a grisly climax that's the equal of Wellman's earlier Public Enemy.

MartinHafer Okay, let's take a quiz. What do the actors Paul Muni, Agnes Morehead, Henry Travers, Warner Oland, Katherine Hepburn, Luise Rainer, Walter Huston and Boris Karloff have in common? Well, isn't it obvious?! All have played Chinese people in films!!! While none of these people remotely looked Asian, and there were plenty of Asian actors available (such as Keye Luke, Victor Sen Young, Anna May Wong and others), Hollywood stupidly decided to have very White looking actors play Chinese characters again and again in the 1930s and 1940s--and in some cases, even up through the 1970s! So in this context, it isn't all that surprising that Edward G. Robinson and Loretta Young play Chinese-Americans in this exceptional and exceptionally strange movie. Now I was actually surprised to see that underneath the makeup, Loretta Young didn't look too bad as an Asian, however Robinson looked about as Chinese as Scatman Crothers!! In fact, apart from a silly hairstyle he only sported at the beginning of the film, he looked like Little Caesar throughout the movie!!! Because of this ludicrous casting, I felt pretty irritated with reviewers that gave this movie a 10 (one going so far as calling this "one of the best movies ever made")!! Sure, it is a really cool movie, but to me a 10 implies a perfect film. Casting a Jewish man (Robinson) as a Chinese person has to automatically knock off a point or two! In addition to him and Young, ALL the rest of the major Chinese parts were played by White actors--such as J. Carrol Naish and Dudley Diggs!! Now once you get past the stupidity of the casting, what you have left is an exciting Pre-Code film. Pre-Code means that the film was released before the strict Production Code was adopted in 1934. As a result, the film had a few adult themes (such as adultery and violent murders) that you just wouldn't have seen a few years later--or they would have been severely censored--lessening their impact.The film is called THE HATCHET MAN because Robinson is literally a hatchet-wielding assassin who does his tong's bidding. Tongs were secret Chinese-American societies--much like the gangs of today. And, when someone offends the tong, it's Robinson's job to kill--even when he is ordered to kill his best friend! Ironically, upon killing this friend, Robinson inherited the man's fortune AND custody of his young daughter--with the intention that Robinson later marry the girl! Now THAT'S ironic!! While everything seems just fine after they marry 20 years later, eventually this lady (Young) is seduced away from Robinson--not a smart move considering Robinson is a skilled assassin with a hatchet!! Despite his rage upon discovering the affair, he forgives her and allows her to leave with her lover--much to the dismay of the tong. The secret society is angered that Robinson acted so weakly and lost face, so they threw him out of the organization and his life went downhill fast.What happens next is just too exciting to reveal, but the film has one of the most interesting and lurid conclusions I have seen in a long time. Thanks to a fantastic script, it's well worth seeing--plus, the plot is so bizarre and creepy, that it's a real guilty pleasure. See this one--and try to look past the ridiculous casting.By the way, if you are so inclined, try counting the number of times the "Chinese" characters say the word "honorable". My bet is that it must be at least 100! So, according to old time Hollywood, a White guy can squint and say "honorable" at the end of every few sentences and he becomes instantly Chinese! Wow...I gotta try that!