Did anyone catch "The Good Earth" with Keye Luke on TCM?
Surprisingly, TCM played the film, "The Good Earth" at an almost prime time slot on Friday, January 12th, at 5:15 EST (2hr, 18min). I say surprising almost the majority of lead roles (except for Chan Star, Keye Luke) were Caucasians in yellow face. And their interpretation of "Chinese" doesn't even come close to Warner Oland, Sidney Toler, or I dare say Roland Winters (in my very humble opinion).
It gives one hope that one day we might find a Charlie Chan evening on TCM! Lou
Re: Did anyone catch "The Good Earth" with Keye Luke on TCM?
Dear Lou,
I missed it, but I have seen the film in the past. In fact, student I work with at my new school are presently reading through the book, and their classroom teacher plans to show the movie in class!
The term "yellow face," for anyone not too familiar with the term, was coined sometime in the comparatively recent past by the anti-Chan and other related forces as something of a derogatory "put-down" of films that feature non-Asians in Asian roles. Of course, these groups see the past through eyes "flavored" by the norms and prejudices our time, prompting them to ignore possibly very sensible reasons why casting was conducted as it was many decades ago.
This lead to the cancellation, in 2003, of the abrupt ending of a Charlie Chan marathon at the Fox Movie Channel. Due, most probably, to fan and viewer outcry, FMC soon resumed the airing of Chan adventures with the unfortunate inclusion of pre-showing kangaroo-court-like panel "discussions," composed of likeminded individuals, moderated by George Takai, focusing on "racism" in Charlie Chan films and in Hollywood. Too bad that Keye Luke was not alive, as he could have certainly set them strait on a few issues. The anti-Chan forces may call it "yellowface," but Keye Luke called it ACTING.
This was very sad, but, in the end, the outcome was that we eventually have all available Charlie Chan movies available to us on authorized, commercially produced DVDs, as fans of the great Chinese detective stood in the face of the anti-Chan mob and voiced their love of his adventures, realizing that he is NOT a negative racist stereotype!
Returning to "The Good Earth," I greatly enjoyed the film, and found it to be a wonderful adaptation of the book by Pearl Buck, and I look forward to watching it with my students!
