The Hatchet Man (1932)

Edward G. Robinson: Wong Low Get

Photos 

Quotes 

• Wong Low Get : Sometimes it is better that the eye should not see what the hand is doing.

• Wong Low Get : I'm a stranger in your city.

  Soo Lat, the Cobbler : Your shoes look as though you are a stranger in many cities.

• Sun Yat Ming : This tea is from home, in China, my brother. It tastes and smells of the green hilltops where we were boys together. Now, tell me what brings you here so mysteriously?

  Wong Low Get : I am the Hatchet Man of a Lim Sing Tong.

• Wong Low Get : Chinese girls have legs, you see, just like the white sisters. That is a fact that we of Old China hardly knew before.

  Nog Hong Fah : America has taught us many other things equally as foolish. Our women are being spoiled by indulgence and freedom.

• Wong Low Get : I hope for her consent.

  Nog Hong Fah : Consent? From a woman?

  Wong Low Get : Times have changed for us, you see. Typewriters and adding machines, replace the old paint brushes.

  Nog Hong Fah : In the old days, Toya would have been taught to bind her feet and stay at home.

• Wong Low Get : My wife says I need an extra shadow.

  Bodyguard : Where to, Mr. Wong Get?

  Wong Low Get : It is written that a shadow follows.

• Nog Hong Fah : This white meddler made some trouble.

  Wong Low Get : It's hard to reason with a snake.

  Nog Hong Fah : You have sharp arguments for such a peaceful arbitrator.

• Wong Low Get : When fortunes go, the soil remains. It's our heritage.

• Wong Low Get : Do you know anything about the Street of Red Lanterns, Number Seven?

  Soo Lat, the Cobbler : Number seven? On the Street of the Red Lanterns? That is a Tea House where men drink and smoke the pipe of golden dreams.

• Wong Low Get : You were making your will?

  Sun Yat Ming : Leaving all my worldly goods to you, my friend, just as you knocked on my door. And I hope you're not a bad omen.

  Wong Low Get : But, why tonight?

  Sun Yat Ming : In times like these, all men should have their houses in order. But, come, sit down, you look tired.

  [girl starts singing in the next room] 

  Sun Yat Ming : My little Toya. My little Toya is six, now. You'd hardly know her. I have also left her to you, my friend. To become your honorable wife, when she is of age.

• Wong Low Get : I gave my oath to bring her nothing but happiness. I've watched her grow from a little bud into a beautiful flower. I loved her when she was a child. And now that she's a woman, I still love her.

• Wong Low Get : There's an old Chinese proverb that says, "That one must think right and think left. But, when your answer is given, it is a place before your ancestors and the great Lord Buddha."

• Madame Si-Si : A thief! A thief!

  Wong Low Get : Is it stealing to take one's own? ! A woman is the property of her husband under the ancient Chinese law. Remember that, old mother of a foolish tongue.

  Madame Si-Si : You lie! I paid good money for her. She's not your wife! I paid good money for her to work and serve for me! You lie!

  Wong Low Get : An honorable Hatchet Man does not lie.