The Secrets of Wu Sin Review: A rough but fun 1932 mystery

If you have an hour to kill and love dusty, crackling 1930s B-mysteries, The Secrets of Wu Sin is actually a pretty fun ride today. But if you can't stand scratchy audio and actors who sometimes look like they forgot their next line, you should probably just skip this one. 🕵️‍♂️

The whole thing is basically a newspaper reporter story mixed with a human smuggling plot set in Chinatown. What caught me off guard was how dark the subject matter actually is for 1932, even if the actual movie is pretty cheap and goofy.

The main reporter guy, played by Grant Withers, has this incredibly loud voice. He talks like he is trying to shout over a loud train, even when he is just standing in a quiet office talking to a girl.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Secrets of Wu Sin (1932) through its definitive frames.

Speaking of the office, keep an eye on the big desk in the newspaper room. There is a coffee cup that is clearly empty because when an actor accidentally knocks it over, nothing spills and it makes this light, hollow paper sound. Whoops.

I kept thinking about how much more energy this movie has than something like Society Snobs. It actually moves, even when the plot makes absolutely zero sense.

The atmosphere is the real star here anyway. The Chinatown sets are obviously just painted cardboard, but the director uses so many thick shadows that it actually looks pretty cool and spooky.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Secrets of Wu Sin (1932) through its definitive frames.

Also, a very young Richard Loo shows up in a small role. He has this quiet intensity that makes almost everyone else in the cast look like they are acting in a bad high school play.

There is also a really weird moment near the middle where a guy gets shot. He does this dramatic, slow-motion spin before falling down that looked like he was trying to do ballet.

It is definitely not a grand, polished drama like The Woman Who Dared, but it does not try to be.

Some quick notes I scribbled down:

• The background music just sort of stops and starts randomly with no transition at all.
• Dorothy Revier has some great reaction shots where she looks genuinely confused by what the other actors are saying.
• That one police officer's hat is way too big for his head and keeps sliding down.

Anyway, the movie is super short—barely over an hour. It does not waste your time, and sometimes that is all you really want on a rainy afternoon.