Broke in China

In the feverish, slapstick-laden landscape of 1927, Broke in China emerges as a surrealist exercise in silent comedy, centered on the inimitable Ben Turpin. Donald Drake, a man whose professional history includes the unlikely transition from soda jerk to deep-sea gondolier, washes up in Shanghai with nothing but his crossed eyes and a lack of prospects. He finds himself at the All Nation Cafe, a den of opportunistic schemes run by a proprietor who smells poverty on Drake from a mile away. However, a sudden windfall shifts the power dynamics, prompting the owner to deploy Maud and Mollie—two American 'good time girls'—to separate the hapless Drake from his new fortune. What follows is a narrative that hinges on the absurdity of Drake’s romantic past, a lost blonde love, and a literal turn of the wheel. The film uses the chaotic energy of the international settlement in Shanghai as a backdrop for a series of escalating physical gags, culminating in a roulette sequence where sheer incompetence translates into a life-altering victory.