Sum Hun


Sum Hun is a 1936 Cantonese-language drama film produced by an American production company in 1936 for a Chinese audience. The film was advertised as the first Cantonese-language film made in Hollywood. The film is believed to be lost.

Plot

A Chinese-American aviator falls in love with an opera star named Fan in San Francisco. Unfortunately, a jealous theater manager named Jung intervenes, threatening to send the opera star back to China.

Cast

Production

In 1936, a young San Francisco woman named Esther Eng joined forces with a young actor Bruce Wong to try and tap into the Chinese movie-going market. Together, they managed to raise the money they'd need to get the film made, and then they set to work studying the taste of Chinese audiences. The film was shot in eight days in Los Angeles and San Francisco under Bruce Wong's Cathay Pictures production company. He cast his brother Beal in one of the lead roles.