Confessions of an Opium Eater

1962 film

June 20, 1962 (1962-06-20) (United States)

Running time

85 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

Confessions of an Opium Eater also known as Souls for Sale and Evils of Chinatown^[1] is a 1962 American crime film produced and directed by Albert Zugsmith. It is loosely based on the 1821 autobiographical novel Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, written by Thomas De Quincey. After circulating for years as a bootleg, it was released on DVD as part of the Warner Archive Collection in 2012.^[2]

This film stars Vincent Price as Gilbert de Quincey, a nineteenth-century adventurer who becomes involved in a tong war in San Francisco. Price also narrated the film, whose evocative cinematography resembles a nightmare. The film was something of a departure for Price; the prolific actor never performed another role that involved so much physical action.^[3]

Plot

In 1902, adventurer Gilbert De Quincey, a descendant of Thomas De Quincey, is hired by the editor of a Chinese newspaper to stop auctions of trafficked Chinese women to be the brides of Chinese men resident in the United States. The community is split down the middle between those feeling the traditional practice is the only way for overseas Chinese to obtain brides, and those who regard the practise as indecent.

Cast

Vincent Price as Gilbert De Quincey
Linda Ho as Ruby Low
Richard Loo as George Wah
June Kyoto Lu as Lotus (as June Kim)
Philip Ahn as Ching Foon
Yvonne Moray as the midget girl with sing-sing voice
Caroline Kido as Lo Tsen
Terence De Marney as Englishman in opium den

Reception

In 1998, Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader included the film in his unranked list of the best American films not included on the AFI Top 100.^[4]

References

^ "Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962) - IMDb". IMDb.
^ "Confessions of an Opium Eater (Aka Souls for Sale) | WBshop.com | Warner Bros". www.wbshop.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-28.
^ Nortz, Sean (May 27, 2014). "Could You Spare Me a Nightmare? The World of Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962)". brightlighrsfilm.com. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (June 25, 1998). "List-o-Mania: Or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love American Movies". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on April 13, 2020.