The Cat's Paw (1934)Silent film star Harold Lloyd speaks, playing a naive young lad in the big city. Raised in a Chinese missionary, he doesn't understand modern American society, its slang and its politics. This makes him a perfect candidate for a corrupt mayoral election he's expected to lose.
You ever watch a Frank Capra film? This is exactly like that, with Lloyd acting like James Stewart, Una Merkel as Jean Arthur and a host of familiar faces in familiar roles. (George Barbier, Nat Pendleton, Grace Bradley, Alan Dinehart, Grant Mitchell.) The beats are familiar - though this pre-dates Capra's most popular output - and they work, including an extreme finale that's super dark but clever.
The film is also racist. Not deliberate and not stereotyping, but showing absolute ignorance towards Chinese people and their culture. You can tell they had no idea how offensive they were being. (Lloyd's character even speaks Chinese, but is obviously dubbed.) For some this will make the film an automatic 'nope', but easily putting that outdated quality aside, this is a Discovery.
RATING: ★ ★ ★ - Good