Summary
In the gas-lit labyrinth of 1910s Chinatown, scarlet beans tumble like drops of blood across a lacquered tray inside the clandestine court of the Hop Sing Tong; whoever lifts the crimson seed must murder a fellow countryman or forfeit his own life. A nameless Chinese immigrant—face painted by shadow and neon—draws the fatal lot, then slides a stiletto between the ribs of his condemned compatriot while Tammany’s iron fist, Big Tom Hogan, and the police circus juggle innocence like hot coins, finally pinning the crime on any celestial scapegoat within reach. Enter Charley Sing, pawn of politics, saved only because Buck Mahoney, a Celtic street prince with a soft spot for underdogs, barters future favors. Meanwhile Samuel Savinsky, ostensibly a humble pawnshop patriarch, funnels family savings into the sequined appetite of Neva Sacon, a café danseuse whose hips spell out sins in Morse code. Cue Harvey Wilson, ink-stained journalist, dazzled less by Neva’s curves than by a silver poppy—The Flower of Doom—an opium-scented talisman that Buck slips him inside the incense-choked Tong hall. Once the trinket lands in Neva’s gloved palm, she vanishes through a sliding panel in Ah Wong’s apothecary, swallowed by the dragon’s belly of the Three Brothers Tong. Rings change wrists, hostages swap cells, and Tea Rose, Ah Wong’s opium-sick wife, dreams of eloping with Paul Rasnov, a morphine-ravaged sculptor who trades chisels for needles. Negotiations ricochet in bilingual notes until a reluctant bride exchange frees Neva but shackles Tea Rose to her jealous husband, who strangles her beneath paper lanterns before tumbling to his own cerebral doom on a stone grate. Rasnov, orphaned by love, crawls back to the solace of a wooden pipe; Savinsky, stripped of jewels and pride, slinks into the night; and Chinatown’s neon pulse keeps beating, indifferent to who lives, who dies, and who merely exhales a silver plume of smoke toward the moon.
Synopsis
At a meeting of the Hop Sing Tong, a Chinaman chooses the red bean and is destined to kill one of his countrymen. Later this Chinaman kills his condemned countryman, and the gang manage to throw the officers off the track of the murderer. However, the police suspect that it is the work of the Hop Sing Tong and are instructed by the chief to arrest Charley Sing, as one Chinaman is as good as another. Big Tom Hogan, the Tammany leader, is visited by Buck Mahoney, a gang leader, a friend of Charley Sing's, who has come to get Hogan to have the Chinaman released, for he knows he is innocent. Hogan forces the Governor to pardon Charley Sing. Samuel Savinsky, the keeper of a pawnshop, is thought much of by his wife and family, who never suspect his affair with Neva Sacon. He gives her money and jewels, and becomes jealous of Harvey Wilson, a reporter. Paul Rasnov, a sculptor and a dope fiend, pawns valuable trinkets at Savinsky's store to buy opium at the store of Ah Wong, the leader of the Three Brothers Tong. Tea Rose, Ah Wong's wife, consents to run away with Paul. Buck meets Harvey and says he will show him secrets of Chinatown if Harvey will expose the Boss in his paper. Buck guides Harvey into the building of the Hop Sing Tong. Harvey is enthusiastic over a silver flower, and Buck, seeing no one is looking, tells him to keep it. That evening Harvey gives Neva Sacon, the café dancer, the poppy, the Flower of Doom. The next day Harvey and Neva go to Chinatown and stop at Ah Wong's store to eat. The proprietor sees Neva and makes plans to kidnap her. While Harvey is in another room, a panel opens behind her and she is pulled through the opening. When the reporter returns a servant tells him that the lady has just left. He hurries to tell Buck about the strange disappearance. The Chinamen leave Neva in a small room. Left alone with a Chinaman at one time, the girl offers him a curious ring which Savinsky has given her, if he will deliver a message to Harvey at the newspaper office. The Chinaman is informed that the reporter is not in, and thus satisfied, the Chink goes to Savinsky's pawnshop to get rid of the ring. The pawnbroker recognizes the ring and forces the Chinaman to tell now he got it. With a policeman Savinsky starts for Ah Wong's, but when the officer threatens to break down a door, Savinsky is frightened, and hurriedly leaves the place. Buck appeals to Charley Sing to find Neva, and following Charley's suggestion, Tea Rose is kidnapped while a letter written in Chinese is sent to Ah Wong telling him of Tea Rose and offering her in exchange for Neva. Ah Wong consents, and that evening Neva is restored to her people and Tea Rose to her husband. Savinsky, seeing Neva again in the company of Harvey, realizes he has lost and goes to her to demand the jewels he has given her. Harvey returns with Neva, and when Savinsky begins to quarrel about his rights, the reporter throws him out. Harvey proposes to Neva who accepts his offer. Warned by a spying Chink that Tea Rose and Rasnov are going to run away that evening, Ah Wong plans to spoil their party. He hides in the place where the girl is expecting to meet Rasnov, and springing on her drags her into a room and strangles her. Rasnov waits for Tea Rose, and Ah Wong rushes in at him. They fight, and the Chinaman lifts Rasnov up to hurl him against the wall when his foot slips and his skull is crushed against the stone steps of the grating. Having lost Tea Rose, Rasnov consoles himself with opium.
