Watching Lupe Velez in Oriente es Occidente was a total trip

If you have about an hour and a half to kill and you want to see what Hollywood thought passed for 'international' in 1930, you should check this out. It is definitely for people who love early talkies or anyone obsessed with the 'Mexican Spitfire' herself, Lupe Velez. If you hate slow, stagey movies with really questionable racial stuff, you should probably skip it.

I found a copy of this because I was reading about how they used to make movies twice. They'd shoot the English version during the day and the Spanish version at night. Oriente es Occidente is the result of that weird late-night energy.

The movie starts in China, but it looks like a stage set because it basically is. Lupe plays Ming Toy. She is being sold at a 'love market' which is just as awkward to watch now as it sounds. She gets saved by an American guy and ends up in San Francisco.

Lupe is... a lot. She is constantly moving. Sometimes it feels like she is in a completely different movie than everyone else. While the men are standing still like they are afraid of the microphone, she is jumping around and making faces. It is kind of exhausting but you can't look away from her.

The dialogue is all in Spanish, which is cool because you get to hear these actors before the industry decided everyone had to speak perfect English. But man, the pacing is so slow. There are these long gaps between lines where you can almost hear the director holding his breath behind the camera.

One scene that really stuck with me is when she is in the house in San Francisco. The way she handles a tea set is so clumsy it feels real. Like she actually didn't know where to put the cups. It’s those little accidents that make these old movies feel alive to me.

I noticed a few things that were just plain weird. There is a guy in the background of the market scene who looks like he is just waiting for lunch. He isn't even acting. He’s just standing there staring at the floor until the camera pans past him.

The romance part is pretty dry. Barry Norton plays the lead guy and he is just... there. He has this very stiff way of standing that reminded me of the acting in Go Straight. He doesn't seem like he knows what to do with his hands when he is talking to Lupe.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Oriente es Occidente (1930) through its definitive frames.

Also, the makeup is wild. Everyone has these very thin, very dark eyebrows that make them look surprised all the time. Lupe has this one close-up where her eyes look so shiny it’s almost scary. It’s that 1930 lighting where they just blasted people with light until they glowed.

The whole 'Chinese' aspect is handled about as well as you’d expect from 1930. Which is to say, not well at all. It is basically a bunch of Spanish-speaking actors pretending to be Chinese. It’s a layer of make-believe on top of another layer of make-believe. It’s fascinating in a 'how did they think this worked?' kind of way.

There’s a twist at the end about her 'real' identity that is so silly it made me laugh out loud. I won't spoil it, but it’s the most 'Hollywood' solution to a problem ever written. It basically undoes the whole point of the movie just so everyone can be happy.

The sound quality is pretty rough too. You can hear this constant hissing in the background. It sounds like someone is frying bacon in the next room. It adds a weird atmosphere, like you are watching a ghost story instead of a romance.

I keep thinking about the sets. The 'Chinese' house has these curtains that look like they were bought at a discount store in Los Angeles. They don't look heavy or expensive. They just look like props. It reminds me of the low-budget feel in Pal o' Mine, where you can tell they were trying hard with very little money.

Is it a good movie? Probably not by most standards. But it is a human movie. You can feel the actors trying to figure out how to talk and move at the same time. You can feel Lupe Velez trying to be a superstar in every single frame.

It’s much more interesting than a polished modern movie that has been edited to death. Here, the mistakes are right on the screen for you to see. I like that. It feels honest, even if the story is totally fake.

Stuff I jotted down:

• The hats in the San Francisco scenes are huge. Like, distractingly huge.
• Lupe's laugh is very loud. It probably blew out the speakers in 1930.
• There is a scene with a fan that goes on for way too long. Way too long.
• The guy playing the villain has a mustache that looks like it might fall off if he sneezes.
• The way they transition between scenes is so abrupt it feels like the film snapped.

If you're into the history of how movies were made, this is a goldmine. If you just want a tight plot, you're gonna be bored. I fell somewhere in the middle. I didn't love the story, but I loved watching Lupe Velez just be Lupe Velez.

It’s funny how a movie about 'East meeting West' is actually just a bunch of people in California wearing costumes and speaking Spanish. It’s a big, messy, beautiful disaster. I’m glad I watched it, but I don't think I'll ever need to see it again. 🎬