Weekly Review No. 15 | China Gate

Parsing Racial Politics in the 1950’s

Angie Dickinson (with Maurice Marsac) plays a Eurasian barmaid in Indochina in Samuel Fuller’s “China Gate” (1957). 20th Century Fox/Everett Collection | (Kehr 2013)

Top and Bottom - Nat King Cole as Goldie singing the title song, China Gate, to Lucky’s and Brock’s son as he holds his puppy within his clothes, following Goldie as they walk through a bombed out village. | (Bluebirdsings56 2019)

Link | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDS2pbQPMUc

Review

China Gate is a 1957 Hollywood CinemaScope war-drama film written, produced, and directed by Samuel Fuller and released by 20th Century Fox. The film is set during the First Indochina War (1946–1954), and depicts the relationship between Sergeant Brock (Gene Barry) of the French Foreign Legion and his now estranged Eurasian wife, Lucky Legs (Angie Dickinson) whom he had left. A “half-caste” Chinese-European, Lucky’s son had been abandoned by Brock due to the child’s Asian features. Considered a “half-breed”, their son would not be welcome in America due to the prevalent attitude of miscegenation.[1] The latter term being members of different races having children together in the 19th and 20th centuries.[2] However the character’s name, Lucky Legs, may be objectifying and through a female gaze and hearing; unpleasant – Such word usage deemed normal in the 1950s has not changed. Only that it would receive much more open criticism and less hidden pleasure now. The fact that Lucky’s child is left in anonymity, not given a name in the film is troublesome. Yet, effective in pinning his status as a product of miscegenation. Putting those aside, moving on to war, politics, and representation.

They are formulations from the human heart and human reason. Those which are inseparably and simultaneously political as well as personal.

As American Korean War veterans, Brock and Goldie, and the components of the script are representative of politics and warfare. That is direct reference, though fictionalised, of Viet Minh, a Vietnamese national independence coalition[3] and Mao Zedong’s, Red China, or the People’s Republic of China. Plus, that of the territory of French Indochina comprised of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia being symbolic to French territorial colonialism within Southeast Asia. China Gate is too, synonymous to America’s historical longstanding involvement with the Vietnamese war, and all three countries becoming communist in 1975[4]. Samuel Fuller’s use of the medium of film enabled him to give moving and speech forms to his “political convictions, as well as his contradictions and moral paradoxes”[5]. Fuller was known to be outside of the conventional studio system of his time through subtle film content and dialogue, building characters like Lucky and Goldie. Personally, they could have been given well-standing names, but I digress. Regarding racial politics, in an age where debates about racial representation are at the forefront, Fuller served adequate anti-racist imagery through the selected roles his character’s played. Nat King Cole plays a black soldier in a time when African-American actors were more likely to be portrayed as cooks or truck drivers.[6] And though Angie Dickinson is Caucasian, she represents one of the leading roles in China Gate as an Asian woman. If we were to think and link these historical events to contemporary times, however slow in progression, Asian representation has seen more light in the film industry. Superb and critique-ridden ensembles which are created by Asian producers, such as The Joy Luck Club (1993), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite (2019), Farewell (2019), Minari (2020), and a far-reaching list of actors like the hilarious and talented Awkwafina to the timelessly elegant Michelle Yeoh. These are themselves representational of the strong potential of all races to write screenplays and produce films which can be relevant across nationality, identity, and age group. But also, associative in that writers and producers address issues which spring from inter-racial interactions within society. Like China Gate, they are formulations from the human heart and human reason. Those which are inseparably and simultaneously political as well as personal.

Top and Bottom - Sergeant Brock talking to his son, who his left unnamed in the movie as Lucky props her feet up with a drink in her hand. | (Bluebirdsings56 2019)

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References

[1] Wikipedia. 2021. China Gate (1957 film). June 14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Gate_(1957_film).

[2] Wikipedia. 2021. Miscegenation. June 11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miscegenation.

[3] Wikipedia. 2021. June 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viet_Minh.

[4] Wikipedia. 2021. Vietnam War. June 14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War#:~:text=The%20war%2C%20considered%20a%20Cold,countries%20becoming%20communist%20in%201975.

[5] Kehr, Dave. 2013. Parsing Racial Politics in the ’50s. April 5. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/movies/homevideo/new-dvds-china-gate-the-sun-shines-bright.html.

[6] “Ibid.”

Images

Bluebirdsings56. 2019. Nat King Cole - China Gate (1957). July 9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYC_PlutU8I.

Kehr, Dave. 2013. Parsing Racial Politics in the ’50s. April 5. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/movies/homevideo/new-dvds-china-gate-the-sun-shines-bright.html.