Old San Francisco

Alan Crosland, Warner Bros., 1927, Vitaphone score. A Spanish Californian family in 1906; Dolores Costello is the daughter a land-hungry neighbor wants. Warner Oland, in yellowface, is the Chinatown boss who also wants the house. Anna May Wong appears as a Flower of the Orient, a few shots. The earthquake is the third act the ads promised. The plot is property, race panic, and a cave-in. Eighty-eight minutes. Wong is already too good for the billing. The city falls on a story that was ugly before the ground moved.