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Reviews
Intrigue (1947)
Shanghai in 1947
"Intrigue" focuses on Shanghai's black market (for rice, whiskey, etc...). The film sometimes gets preachy about some criminals getting rich while many people are poor, but mostly it displays conflicts between an interesting group of characters. People interested in China in the 1940s will enjoy it, but a much better film is "The Shanghai Gesture", made in 1941 by Josef von Sternberg, and starring Gene Tierney.
International Settlement (1938)
8 years before Gilda
This obscure 1938 film starring George Sanders and Delores Del Rio seems somewhat like Gilda, and just as good. He arrives in Shanghai in 1937 just as the Japanese forces are beginning to threaten the city. Delores Del Rio is a nightclub singer who has some dangerous associates.
Gilda (1946)
if you like Gilda...
An equally good, but mostly forgotten, similar film, made eight years earlier, is "International Settlement". The character played by George Sanders arrives in Shanghai in 1937, just as the Japanese forces are beginning to threaten it. Delores Del Rio plays a nightclub singer with some dangerous friends.