Summary
Twin Nordstrom sisters cleave the world between them like a cracked prism: one refracts into decadent Shanghai shadows as the perfumed temptress the Yellow Typhoon; the other crystallises into a lacquered shield of star-spangled espionage. Berta trades matrimony for opium-scented silks, leaving her naval-engineer spouse adrift in Europe, then weaponises her body in the Orient as a courtesan-cum-spy, every caress a promissory note for geopolitical larceny. Hilda, her mirror image, enlists in Washington’s clandestine sisterhood, sworn to defend the very blueprint that could cloak U.S. submarines in technological invisibility. When Berta and her saboteur consort Karl Lysgaard slit the throat of the absent-minded inventor, the macguffin blueprints escape via briefcase into the custody of granite-jawed Lieut. Commander John Mathison, whose battleship steams toward Potomac secrecy. Aboard the same vessel, the twins—one in virtue’s white trench, the other in villainous chiffon—play a lethal shell game of identity, lust and leverage until steel-capped retribution arrives in a volley of naval gunfire and handcuffs.
Synopsis
Hilda and Berta Nordstrom, although identical in appearance, are opposites in temperament. Berta weds naval engineer Robert Hallowell, deserts him in Europe, and travels to the Orient in search of the gay life where she becomes a notorious courtesan known as The Yellow Typhoon. Meanwhile, Hilda has become a secret service agent and is assigned to protect Hallowell while he perfects an invention to insure American submarines against enemy attacks. Berta, in league with saboteur Karl Lysgaard to steal the plans, raids Hallowell's bungalow and kills the engineer. However, the plans are in possession of Lieut. Commander John Mathison who is transporting them to Washington. Hilda sails aboard his ship as do Berta and Lysgaard. Mathison does not wholly trust Hilda but when she foils the plotters' final attempt to steal the plans, he becomes convinced of her sincerity. The police arrive and in the ensuing fight, Karl and Berta are slain. In Washington, Mathison and Hilda deliver the plans and declare their love for each other.
