(a.k.a. East of Shanghai)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Dale Collins (novel), Alfred Hitchcock, Alma Reville & Val Valentine (screen adaptation)
Language: English
Starring: Joan Barry, Henry Kendall
Produced by British International Pictures (BIP)
Year of release: 1931

Film Locations:
Boat Quay
Victoria Memorial Hall and Theatre
Shophouse street

 

IN THIS EARLY ALFRED HITCHCOCK FILM about a bickering couple on a cruise to the ‘Far East’ – based on a novel and partly inspired by the director’s honeymoon trip with his wife Alma Reville in 1926, Singapore features as a momentary stopover. Here the journey comes to a pause for the pair to re-evaluate their relationship. Neither the film director nor the actors were actually in Singapore for the filming. A snatch of stock footage of Singapore’s ‘icons’ serve to signify the protagonists’ arrival in the famous colonial port: Singapore River’s Boat Quay, Victoria Memorial Hall and Theatre, and a shophouse street. What a pity. We missed an opportunity to spot Hitchcock’s signature cameo appearance for a film scene shot in Singapore…

 

 

Further Reading:
1. Mark Duguid, Rich and Strange (1931). BFI Screenonline
[www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/440144/]

Film Images:
© 1931 British International Pictures
© 2004 Force Entertainment