Quelli della San Pablo

A long, spectacular, long, good-looking, long, and well-written and long and well-acted production that puts Steve McQueen's usual insubordinate malcontent in the unusual setting of Shanghai in 1926 (and more than twenty years after 'The Purple Heart' provides a nostalgic return to the big screen by Richard Loo as a vengeful oriental).

Based on Richard McKenna's 1962 novel and reminiscent of '55 Days at Peking'. At least director Robert Wise didn't have to leave the production in a wheelchair as Nicholas Ray had on the earlier film. But after such an arduous shoot he was reluctant to be ruthless in the editing room and at over three hours the end result is almost as exhausting to watch as it was to make.

Wise later said the subplot involving Richard Attenborough and Maryat Andriane (recalling that with Red Buttons & Myoshi Umeki in 'Sayonara') was the most expendable component in the film. But it also gives the film it's heart, so fortunately it stayed.