BOMBS OVER BURMA (1942)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
If it were not for the the pivotal presence of Anna May Wong, "Bombs over Burma" might have been forgotten as a WWII film focusing on the war between Japan and China, and the film obviously on the side of the Chinese.
Here, Wong plays a schoolteacher, Lin Yang, whose school is bombed by Japanese planes. One kid who stays behind in the classroom is killed. Segue to Lin being commissioned to spy on a convoy of trucks on the road to China through Burma. She is part of a group of Allied reps, one who might be a mole, possibly a Nazi, who's providing aid to the Japanese. When the group settle in a monastery, it becomes an Agatha Christie mystery where the mole has to be identified, particularly after Japanese planes are flying overheard bombing trucks carrying supplies to the Allied Forces. We know Lin's identity but what of the American truck driver who wants to hear "both sides before determining the enemy?" Or what of a British nobleman and his assistant, or the jolly heavyset guy (Dan Seymour, who had more than a passing resemblance to Victor Buono) who sees more than he lets on, or the Chinese monk played by Caucasian actor (and not of Asian descent as was often the case in Wong's films) Noel Madison, though it is never clear if he really is a monk or Chinese at all. At one point, he refers to Lin as his daughter though none of this is followed through and his character simply disappears from the narrative.
For the two low-budget PRC productions starring Anna May, "Lady From Chunking" is far superior and thrilling from start to finish. "Bombs over Burma" merely reduces tension to some sort of murder mystery with shades of political turmoil in its background. Fascinating and entertaining yet too slight for its own good.
