Original subtitles

- [Narrator] In the 1850s,

Chinatown constituted an alien city

within the city of San Francisco.

Here, thousands of Orientals,

most of them law-abiding and industrious,

lived according to ancient traditions.

- Hello, Mr. Wayne.

- Lily.

Always wear that color, Lily. It becomes you.

- I'm so glad you noticed.

- Yes, you're really beautiful, Lily.

You're beautiful and lovely, and the truth isn't in you.

- Try me. (people chatting)

- What's happening around here, Lily,

or what's about to happen?

- What do you mean?

- Something's bubbling and boiling,

and it smells of trouble.

Somebody's cooking up something

that won't be good for Chinatown.

- That's no concern of mine. - Isn't it?

These are your people.

Would you like to see them run out of the country?

- What? - A few agitators

have already created a powder keg of resentment against you,

and it wouldn't take much to light that fuse either.

- Why should those people wish to harm us?

- Oh, Lily.

You speak a different language, you worship different gods,

you have different customs, tut tut tut tut,

and your greatest crime is thrift.

- I see.

- On the other hand, some of you are

as bad as the worst of us.

Some of you are awful crooked, Lily.

Oh, I don't necessarily mean present company

although I'm not overlooking that possibility either.

- Well, the new city marshal. - Hello Dan.

You know Dan White, the assistant district attorney,

don't you Lily? - I've met him.

- Hello Lily. - You should have.

He's been very active down here of late.

- And so have you, marshal.

Would it surprise you to find out my office has been making

an investigation of you, Mr. Wayne?

- Oh, not a bit, but what did surprise you to know

that I've been investigating you, Mr. White?

It's too bad we don't trust each other,

isn't it? - Yes, isn't it?

- One of these days, I'm gonna drop around

and tell you what I found out. - You do that.

(menacing music) (door slamming)

(door slamming) - What's up lily?

- I don't know.

- Lily! - Follow them Matt, hurry!

(menacing music)

(man screaming) (dramatic music)

(tense music)

(shoes thudding) (tense music)

- Dan White is dead, Lily.

You warned me too late.

That fuse is already lit.

♪ California, California ♪

- [Narrator] "The Californians."

♪ In California ♪

♪ I've come to live where life is best ♪

♪ In the golden West ♪

♪ I'm gonna strike it rich in California ♪

♪ California ♪

(dramatic music)

(shoes shuffling) (dramatic music)

- The town's in an uproar,

and you can share the blame, Jack.

- Why? - For making Dan White

a martyr in your newspaper.

- Well, he is a martyr. - To his own greed, yes.

- What are you trying to tell me Wayne?

- Dan demanded and got a share of every crooked dollar

that changed hands in Chinatown,

so when he demanded too much, they killed him.

- That's an outrageous lie.

Dan was my brother-in-law, and I can vouch for his honesty.

- You know Krego, you're an amazing fellow.

As a vigilante,

you claim the official existence of corruption,

but when you're faced with it, you refuse to believe it.

- Oh, I believe it all right.

I just think you're naming the wrong man.

- Wait a minute, Krego, wait a minute.

Have you got any proof of Dan White's corruption?

- Enough to satisfy me, yes,

but that's not the important thing.

The important thing is to keep the peace.

- We all want that. - All right then,

keep the vigilantes out of it.

Instead of fanning the flames, help me put them out!

- Now, wait a minute Wayne, I-

All right. All right, what do you want me to do?

- Offer a reward for information leading

to the legal conviction of the killer.

- I can arrange that. Anything else?

- Yes. Put out a special edition of your newspaper.

Advocate patience and reason,

and then announce that the city marshal

is about to arrest the guilty man.

- All right, I'll do that.

- Of course, it won't be true,

but it might have to keep the lid on for a while.

- I say it's about time that someone

blew the lid off Chinatown.

How do you know you can trust this man?

How do you know he isn't protecting

the ones who murdered my brother-in-law?

- Krego, I'm saving you for a rainy day.

Some day when I don't have anything important to do,

I'm gonna look you up and teach you some manners.

Now, if you'll excuse me,

I wanna have a private word with Jack.

- All right you boys, see you later.

- Hello Mr. Wayne.

- Ah, Ms. McGivern.

How are your beauty lights up this dingy place at camers.

- Why thank you, Mr. Wayne.

- Yes, if your father here didn't keep

such a close watch on you, Ms. McGivern. I'd-

- It's Mrs. Mcgivern, or didn't you know sonny?

She happens to be my wife.

All right, now let's cut this burning out

and get down to business, come on.

(door knocking) Excuse me.

(door handle clicking) Hello Choo.

(door slamming) What on earth

happened to your head?

- Have you got a new laundry man, Mrs. McGivern?

- No, Choo.

Since you retired, I've been doing my own work.

- Have you, Mr. Wayne? - Yes.

He doesn't do half as good as you did.

- Oh, I do much better, cheaper.

You come back with me, Mr. Wayne.

- Sure, I'd be glad to, but Choo, what is this?

Last week, you drew all your money out of the bank.

You were gonna take it back to your family in China.

- I can't go home now.

- Why? - Money is all gone.

- That's what happened to you. You were rubbed!

Who did it, Choo?

- I don't know.

- Where did it happen?

- In alley near Lee Ching's place.

Have you got laundry for me to take?

- Yes, there's a bundle out in back.

(shoes shuffling)

Poor man, his life savings, $2,000.

I could cry. - He is crying inside,

but he'd never let you know or anybody else.

- You know the Chinese pretty well, don't you Matt?

- Enough to know they'd be darned good Americans

if they were given a chance to be.

Jack, would you do those things that we talked about?

- Sure. - I'm gonna be

pretty busy for awhile.

Small gangs of men are starting to drift toward Chinatown.

I wanna see that too many of 'em

don't get together to form a mob.

- I'll get the newspaper out right away.

(boots thudding)

- [Man] Dave, we'll have a Chinaman dancing a jig on end.

- All right, gentlemen, you've gone far enough.

- Who says so? - I do

and a Navy revolver with six bullets

and percussion caps that never miss.

- We got guns, too.

How many of us do you think you could get before we got you?

- Just one, maybe.

The thing is you don't know which one.

Right now, this gun is aimed at somebody's brisket.

Maybe yours. (hammer clicking)

Would you like to find out?

I don't think you men want any trouble.

Suppose you forget this idea and just go home.

- We'll be back, marshal. We'll be back.

(menacing music) (men muttering)

(people chatting)

- Lee, I've gotta talk to you right away.

It's very important.

(boots thudding) (people chatting)

- You wish to speak to me?

- Yes about Dan White's murder.

- Why do you come to me?

- Because you're the unofficial mayor of Chinatown,

head of the leading tong.

You're up to your ears in everything that goes on down here.

Lee, your boys went too far

when they killed the assistant district attorney.

That's bad, very bad.

- Bad? Not me, I'm good, good man.

- You're the biggest crook in Chinatown.

Now come on, who killed Dan White, and while we're on it,

who robbed my friend Choo, the laundry man?

- I do not understand.

I go speak with my elders, you wait.

(shoes shuffling)

- Anything I can do for you, Mr. Wayne?

- You do enough for me just being beautiful, Lily.

- Thank you.

What did you want from my uncle?

- (laughs) You really are beautiful.

So lovely, so charming, and such a liar.

- I am? How so?

- Lee Ying isn't your uncle. He bought you.

You're his number five wife.

- I'm sorry you discovered my deceit.

I wanted you to like me.

- Oh, I like you all right.

I think you're worth every dollar

that Lee Ying paid for you.

- You speak of me as if I were a piece of merchandise.

If it weren't for the fact

that you saved my life on the docks,

I wouldn't even- - Your life wasn't in danger.

Those sailors would just lonely.

- I can't stand the touch of an American's hands.

Of course, there are always exceptions.

You didn't tell me what you wanted from my husband.

- Information about Dan White's execution.

- Did you get it?

- Your husband was extremely reticent.

Of course, I did see Lum Sen, the hatchet man,

follow Dan out of this place,

but that's not legal proof that he killed anyone.

Anyway, Lum Sen has unaccountably disappeared.

- He's always on the move.

- But I could dig him up eventually,

but that might be too late Lily.

That's why I'm here.

- I talked to the elders.

They are wise about the ways of San Francisco.

They say you want graft.

- I don't want graft, you little bandit!

I wanna know who killed Dan White,

and I'm not forgetting the robbery of Choo either.

- How much graft do you want? - None!

It's about time you people realize that a marshal's badge

isn't a license to steal.

- I do not understand.

- I think he does understand,

but just in case he doesn't, you explain it to him.

Tell him that there's gonna be real trouble

unless I get my hands on that killer,

and tell him that there's no time to spare.

Do you understand? - Yes, I understand.

- Then make him understand,

and don't forget that your own lovely neck

is involved, too, my darling.

(Lily and Lee speaking foreign language)

- Mr. Wayne, just a minute.

(Lee speaking foreign language)

Lee Ying has decided to deliver the killer

together with witnesses to provide

legal proof of his guilt. - Good.

Deliver him to my office.

(Lee speaking in foreign language)

- Lee Ying insists that he deals

with the vigilance committee.

Like many others, he does not have faith

in the integrity of the city marshal.

- All right, deliver the guilty man

to Jack McGivern's store in one hour.

If you don't, there'll be blood in the streets of Chinatown,

and I won't be able to prevent it.

(dramatic music)

- And gentlemen, how long are we gonna listen

to Matt Wayne's nonsense?

Do you actually believe they'll deliver up

the murderer to us of their own free will?

These Chinese protect one another.

They're too clannish to do a thing like that!

- They're too smart not to.

- They're simply stalling for time.

Well, they smuggled the guilty man out of town.

I say let's take action now!

- Against whom and for what specific reason?

- Against the whole blooming nest of Chinese.

- The guilty as well as the innocent, huh?

- Well, since they won't clean their own house,

we'll have to do it for them.

- All of San Francisco needs a house cleaning.

- You were made city marshal in spite of my objections,

I might add.

You haven't done anything about it!

- I am only one man with a handful of dishonest deputies.

Until I've had a chance to weed 'em out,

you'll have to be a little patient.

- You spend most of your time in Chinatown.

How do we know that you aren't taking graft to protect them?

- I like the nasty way you said that, Krego.

- Now, now gentlemen, please.

None of that, please now.

- All right, I'll settle with you later, Wayne.

I say let's take action now!

- You listen to me, Krego.

We agreed to suspend all vigilante action

unless constituted authority breaks down again.

- It's already broken down.

The only way to solve this situation is to take

the law into our own hands like we used to!

- Don't you suppose they're going to resist?

- So much the better.

- You see, Krego doesn't wanna clean up.

He wants the fun of howling through Chinatown

at the head of a gang of cutthroats.

- You know, I believe you're right, Matt.

Tell me something Krego.

Why do you hate the Chinese so much, hmm?

Is it because that you were in the rice business,

and they priced you out of it?

- I won't submit to that.

I'll kill you- - You'll what?

What will you do? (bodies scuffling)

- Jack. (bodies scuffling)

Krego. (bodies scuffling)

I'd love to let Jack dismember you,

but I'm saving you for myself, Krego.

(Lee speaking in foreign language)

Well Lee, I see you kept your promise.

- Gentlemen, this is the man who killed Dan White.

- What are you talking about? This can't be true.

- It is true. - I won't believe it.

- I did it with a knife. - No, you.

- He saw me, he saw me, he saw me.

They all saw me.

- Why did you do it, Choo? - For money.

Now, you hang me? - Happy to oblige.

Someone got a rope. - Wait a minute!

Choo, come with me. - Just a minute, marshal.

You all heard him confess

that he murdered my brother-in-law.

Well, gentlemen, shall we pass sentence now?

- Sentence will be passed by a judge in court.

- Why waste time? He's already pleaded guilty.

- Not before a judge.

Choo is in my custody,

or would you like to interfere

with the performance of my duty, Krego?

- All right, have your own way for now.

(boots thudding) Marshal?

How long do you think you'll keep him in jail?

- Long enough to see that he gets a fair trial.

(dramatic music) (door slamming)

- What's the matter? (door slamming)

Why are you bringing Choo here?

- We've got him in our custody.

- We're going to lock them up here for a while.

He isn't safe and jail, Martha.

- But what has he done?

- He confessed to the murder of Dan White

- Choo? He couldn't have - I killed him.

- I'm afraid he is guilty, Martha.

- But why would he do a thing like that?

- I don't know, I don't know.

Perhaps because all his money was stolen,

he became desperate and took the job of killing Dan White.

- You wanted to go home to China awfully bad,

didn't you Choo? - Too late now.

You hang me now?

- Don't be in such a hurry to die.

I think a little investigating to do yet.

- What's there to investigate, Matt?

- I'd like to know who paid for this job.

You're sure you don't wanna tell me

who put you up to this?

- You hang me now.

- Keep him out of sight.

- All right, come on with me Choo.

(boots thudding) (dramatic music)

- Hello Lily.

- Can a lady have no privacy, Mr. Wayne?

- I can't seem to tear myself away from you.

You know Choo, don't you? - The one who was robbed?

- Tonight, he confessed to the murder of Dan White.

- Did he? (crickets chirping)

- Lily, was his robbery all part of a plan?

- What do you mean?

- I know your people. I know how you think.

Somebody needed a desperate man for a desperate job,

and that somebody had Choo robbed to make him

desperate enough to commit murder.

- Sounds logical. - Not quite.

Why didn't he hire a professional hatchet man?

- I don't know.

- And why didn't Choo try to run away?

He seems to wanna be hanged, why?

- I don't know. - Lily,

Choo is your cousin.

Why does he want to die? - I told you, I don't know!

- I've heard talk, little bits and pieces.

The Chinese, they're laughing.

They seem to be laughing at a big joke

that's being played on the Americans.

What is it Lily? - I can't tell you.

(crickets chirping)

- Lily, don't you ever wanna be a free woman?

- Why? Lee Ying treats me very well.

- Now that you're young and beautiful, yes,

but even a Chinese lily fades in time.

- Lee Ying has provided for my future.

- And what if a younger and more beautiful blossom

strikes his fancy, what then?

He can always buy a sixth wife.

- That's true.

- You could insure yourself against that.

- I don't like what you're trying to tell me, Mr. Wayne.

- But you'll listen. (crickets chirping)

- Now, listen hard because time is running out.

(people chatting) - Well boys, he isn't in jail,

but I found out where they've hidden the murderer.

He's in Jack McGivern's place.

- He should've been run up the rope hours ago!

- Unless we make an example of him,

the Chinese won't have any respect for us.

They'll take over San Francisco!

- Yeah, a lot of the other boys feel the same way about it.

- All right, get the rest of 'em together.

Tell 'em I'll meet 'em at Jack McGivern's.

We'll hang him, and then we'll go get the ones

who paid him to murder my brother-in-law.

- All right, you heard him. Let's go!

(men shouting)

(Lily speaking in foreign language)

- You must never let them know that I told you.

You understand what would happen to me.

- It's such a lovely neck, too, my darling,

but as I explained to you,

I'll make them think they betrayed themselves.

Lily, let me hear you say that once more.

(Lily speaking in foreign language)

(door hinges squeaking)

Good evening, Lily. - Good evening, Mr. Wayne.

- Good evening, Lee Ying.

- What more do you want?

You got the man who killed White.

- You and I have just started to do business, you bandit.

Catching the killer is only half of my job.

- No graft now.

- The other half is finding out

who agreed to pay for Dan White's murder.

- I do not understand.

- Was it you, Lee Ying?

- I do not understand.

- Look, I've been all over Chinatown.

Your people are enjoying a big joke on us.

They're saying that you turned over

the wrong man as the killer.

They're saying that Choo

isn't the one that killed Dan White.

Lee, your people talked freely in front of me

because it never occurred to them that an American

would understand their language.

(Matt speaking in foreign language)

- You speak Chinese?

- Fluently.

I lived in China for some time.

Now Lee, I know who killed Dan White.

I know who hired him to do it.

I also know why Choo made that false confession.

I heard a dozen of your men say it.

I also heard you say it.

- I can see that we have much to discuss, Marshal Wayne.

- You have something up your sleeve?

- Yes. (dramatic music)

- (screams) Look out behind you!

(pistol firing) (dramatic music)

- That's the man who killed Dan White, isn't it?

- Yes. - On your orders, right?

- Dan White was a very greedy man, marshal.

(Matt whistling) (shoes shuffling)

- Take this man and lock him up.

(shoes shuffling) (door slamming)

Thanks Lily.

- You took an awfully long chance.

What if he continued the conversation in Chinese?

- He'd probably think of that himself,

but then it'll be too late. (boots thudding)

(bell ringing)

(door handle clicking) Martha!

(bell ringing) (boots thudding)

Jack, what happened?

Who did this? (bell ringing)

- Krego and the gang.

- [Matt] They got Choo?

- Yeah, they're gonna lynch him!

- But he's innocent.

(men muttering) (bell ringing)

Come on. You stay here.

(men muttering and shouting) (bell ringing)

(boots thudding) (men muttering and shouting)

(men muttering) (bell ringing)

(men muttering and shouting) (bell ringing)

Come on, take it off! (men muttering and shouting)

(pistol firing) Now listen,

this man is innocent.

He did not kill Dan White.

The man who did is dead, and his accomplice is in custody.

- That's a lie.

Choo confessed that he killed Dan White.

- Yes, he confessed, and do you wanna know why?

Because he needed money, and Chinatown needed a scapegoat.

Choo agreed to take another man's place on the gallows,

to sell his life for a few dollars

that would have been sent to China

to feed his hungry family after his death.

Have any of you got that kind of love in you?

Now, go home,

and don't let me see any of you in a mob again!

(men muttering)

You, too. (wood slamming)

(men muttering)

- Every word you said was a lie, Matt Wayne,

- Krego, I said I was saving you for a rainy day.

(dramatic music) (fists thudding)

- Please Mr. Wayne, you hang me now.

- There are some things about your people

I never will understand. (triumphant music)

(anxious music)

Here Choo.

Thanks to Lily, here is the $2,000 that was stolen from you.

- How did you manage to get Choo's money back?

- There are ways.

- Lily, why don't you run along.

Maybe I'll join you later. - I'd be honored, Mr. Wayne.

- Matt, she's so young. - And so beautiful.

- [Matt] And so deadly. (dramatic orchestral music)

♪ California ♪

♪ Oh I've traveled here, I've traveled there ♪

♪ I guess I've been most everywhere ♪

♪ But I like where I am today ♪

♪ And here is where I'll stay ♪

♪ Now, one thing I just can't endure ♪

♪ Is being broke and being poor ♪

♪ So I come west to take the cure ♪

♪ And here is where I'll stay ♪

♪ I've come to California, California ♪

♪ There's gold in them there hills in California ♪

♪ I've come to live where life is best ♪

♪ In the golden West ♪

♪ I'm going to strike it rich in California ♪

♪ California, California ♪

♪ There's gold in them there hills in California ♪