Forbidden City U.S.A.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Charlie Low's Forbidden City nightclub thrived on the outskirts of San Francisco's Chinatown, promising an all-Chinese musical review. Offering mainstream America a rare glimpse of Asian-American culture outside the stereotypical confines of the restaurant and the laundry, the nightclub also threatened prevailing standards of decency within the immigrant communities. Arthur Dong's 1989 documentary benefits immeasurably from the openness of many surviving Forbidden City principals, including Paul Wing (“The Chinese Astaire”), Larry Ching (“The Chinese Sinatra"), and Toy Yat Mar (“The Chinese Sophie Tucker”), who join Charlie Low and an assortment of Forbidden City dancers, choreographers, and employees in recalling their part in reshaping the perceptions of local and national visitors. Many of the interview subjects are candid about the role that exoticism played in getting the Forbidden City performers booked on national tours (where, in Middle America, they were sometimes the first Asians the audience had ever seen) and the shift of focus when America's entrance into World War II against the "yellow peril" made many of them unemployable. Because of the paucity of archival material, Dong is occasionally stuck throwing together discordant film scraps and audio clips to recreate the club's atmosphere; still, the available performance footage confirms the talent of those involved, and it's the primary sources--all still young at heart at the time--who tell the story best. DVD extras include performance outtakes, additional interviews, a 1940s promotional film, and more. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (D. Fienberg)