CHINA GATE Movie Review

1957 Samuel Fuller

Sam Fuller's worst war film is worth watching—or at least scanning—for several reasons. The most obvious is the bizarre casting. Then there is the unpersuasive attempt to recreate Vietnam on a studio backlot, which would be duplicated with not much more success years later by Stanley Kubrick in Full Metal Jacket. Finally, both the screw-loose plotting and the rabid Red-baiting have become unintentionally comic with the passage of time.

A voice-over introduction sets a hyperbolic tone: “With the end of the Korean War, France was left alone to hold the hottest front in the world and became the barrier between Communism and the rape of Asia.” Moments later, we learn that because the dirty Reds have put the Vietnamese town of Sun Toy under siege, a little boy's (Warren Hsieh) pet puppy is about to be eaten! Presumably because 1957 American audiences did not know much about the country or the war, Fuller spends most of the first act spinning out a fanciful interpretation of the situation, blaming many of the country's problems on the Chinese Communists and their massive underground ammunition bunker at China Gate. The French Legionnaires decide to blow it up, and call in explosives expert Sgt. Brock (Gene Barry). The only person who can lead them from Sun Toy to China Gate is Lucky Legs (Angie Dickinson), who is allegedly half-Chinese. She's also Brock's ex, and if that weren't enough, the kid with the puppy is their son! That's doubly hard to believe because the stars generate all the sexual chemistry of two wet paper towels.

After that's been established, the already pokey action stops cold for Goldie (Nat “King” Cole) to sing the theme song. Then off they go, with half a dozen or so more Legionnaires and a couple of boxes of highly explosive detonators. At every opportunity, one or more of these guys bears his tortured soul, and as they get closer to the Chicoms, it becomes apparent that our girl Lucky has been a sort of one-woman welcoming committee whose mission is to boost morale in every way that she can. All the guys know her because she makes regular visits to the Chinese to deliver cognac and sex, even though her main squeeze is the commander of China Gate, Maj. Cham (Lee Van Cleef), yet another half-Chinese who is in line for a promotion to Moscow.

With only a few exceptions, the combat scenes are as phony as the rest. They were filmed on cheap-looking sets with little originality or energy. Nothing on screen comes close to Fuller's better work in The Steel Helmet and The Big Red One. Still, China Gate is instructive. It's a perfect example of Hollywood's attempt to turn every post-war conflict into another World War II. When the film does try to draw any distinctions, it still reduces the action to good guys vs. bad guys. If a few Americans will just go over there and blow up some stuff and shoot some guys, those benighted foreigners will see the error of their ways and everything will straighten itself out.

That's a bit of an oversimplification, but given the loopy politics of China Gate, it's not too far off the mark.

Cast: Gene Barry (Sgt. Brock), Angie Dickinson (Lucky Legs), Nat “King” Cole (Goldie), Paul Dubov (Capt. Caumong), Lee Van Cleef (Maj. Cham), George Givot (Cpl. Pigalle), Marcel Dalio (Father Paul), Gerald Milton (Pvt. Andreades), Neyle Morrow (Leung), Maurice Marsac (Col. De Sars), Warren Hsieh (The Boy), Paul Busch (Cpl. Kruger), Sasha Hardin (Pvt. Jaszi), James Hong (Charlie), Walter Soo Hoo (Guard), Weaver Levy (Khuan); Written by: Samuel Fuller; Cinematography by: Joseph Biroc; Music by: Max Steiner, Victor Young. Producer: Fox, Samuel Fuller. Running Time: 97 minutes. Format: VHS.