TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

JohnHowardReid Fascinating film which grabs the attention thanks to a hard-hitting script, big-budget sets and believable acting from a really solid cast, particularly from Constance Bennett in what is surely her best performance ever. Barthelmess is mighty believable too. But the story, alas, is not. Mind you, it's first-rate stuff right until all the cop-out rubbish surfaces with Robert Homans in his all-too-familiar element, but even less convincing than usual. (Homans plays the cop, of course). Interest and believability then take a nosedive despite the studio's frantic efforts to hold our attention with a Technicolor sequence (which is now, despite the excellent quality of the rest of the movie, a Clayton's Technicolor sequence, that is it's the cheesy color filter you have when you're not actually having Technicolor). However, it's hard to keep producer-director Frank Lloyd down, and "Son of the Gods" is still a movie that's well worth watching. Available on a very good Warner Archive DVD.

zardoz-13 This early Warner Brothers talkie "Son of the Gods" (1930) deals with the racial intolerance that Anglo-Saxon Americans show towards the Chinese. Chinese-Americans are treated like second-class citizens, and whites hold them in nothing but contempt.Prolific scenarist Bradley King based her screenplay on Rex Beach's novel about a young, impressionable Chinaman, Sam Lee (Richard Barthelmess of "Only Angels Have Wings"), who experiences racial prejudice first-hand when the girls that his college chums bring along for a party reveal their racist sentiments about Sam once they learn about his heritage. Sam goes to his father, Lee Ying (E. Alyn Warren of "Gone With The Wind"), who is a wealthy Chinaman with offices not only in New York City but also in San Francisco. Sam feels deeply wounded by the racial slurs and he wants to leave New York and go where he cannot be hurt by Americans. His patient father warns him that racism is a fact of everyday life and the only solution to racism is tolerance. Sam has yet to learn this lesson. He refuses to take any more money from his father and catches a ship to London, England, peeling potatoes while he is on board.During the trip, he encounters a British playwright, Bathurst (Claude King of "Arrowsmith"), who needs some help writing a play about the Chinese. Sam and he strike up a friendship and Sam furnishes him with cultural information about Asians. While they are relaxing in France, Sam meets a beautiful young woman, Allana Wagner (Constance Bennett of "Two-Faced Woman"), who falls madly in love with him. It seems that Allana and her wealthy father are vacationing in the same motel. Everybody at the motel knows about Sam being a Chinaman with the exception of Allana. Sensitive about his racial heritage, Sam holds Allana at arm's length until she convinces him that nothing could change her mind about him. They fall madly in love together. Allana's father drops the bomb on her when he reveals that Sam is a Chinaman and all the memories of living in San Francisco and dealing with coolies floods Allana's mind. She storms into the dining room at the motel and publicly flogs Sam with a riding crop in front of a room filled with on-lookers.Of course, Sam is terribly devastated by this reversal of events. He thought that Allana loved him but she didn't. About this time, Sam's father Lee Ying falls tragically ill and Ying's secretary of sorts, Eileen (Mildred Van Dorn of "Iron Man") sends Sam a telegram about Ying's illness. Predictably, Sam rushes home to New York to be at his father's side. Since his public humiliation, Sam has vowed to show no kindness to Anglo-Saxon Americans; Eileen is an Irish-Catholic and probably one of his few white friends. Lee Ying dies and Sam assumes control of the business and he practices his anti-White racism, until he learns that he was an Anglo-Saxon foundling that a San Francisco cop on the beat gave to Lee Ying and his wife to bring up. The cop forgot about it until two white busy-bodied social worker types wanted to take Sam away from the Yings. Sam learns this revelation about the same time that Allana comes to New York and falls ill. During her illness, she utters his name repeatedly in her sleep and her devoted father goes to see Sam and requests that Sam visit her in order to help her recover. Unbeknownst to Allana, Sam does visit her and she improves, but she has no memory of his visit, merely a hazy notion. Eventually, Allana learns the truth about Sam not being a Chinaman and they marry and live happily ever after.This socially conscientious Warner Brothers/First National Pictures Release contends frankly and unflinchingly with the race issue for the first hour or thereabouts before the revelation that Sam has no Chinese blood running in his veins catches both him as well as the audience by surprise. The reconciliation between Allana and Sam stretches credibility, despite their self-professed undying love for each other. However, in the name of a happy ending that would erase all the negativity that came before it, they wind up in each other's arms.The capitulation on the race issue with the revelation that Sam isn't Chinese damages some of the film's moral power. Incredibly, "Son of the Gods" is a Pre-Code film that almost seems prudish; for example, Sam is an American, not Chinese! Constance Bennett gives a wonderful performance as a petulant beautify and she holds your attention when she whips Sam with her riding crop. Claude King is good as Bathurst, and E. Alyn Warren is convincing as Lee Ying. Interestingly, Warren made a career out of portraying Asian characters. Richard Barthelmess is flawless as Sam; he delivers a highly nuanced performance. Despite its age, "Son of the Gods" is a son of a good movie!

drednm Interesting story and sympathetic treatment of racial discrimination, Son of the Gods is rather too long and contains some hammy acting, but on the whole remains a fascinating film.Story about a Chinese passing as White (Rchard Barthelmess) starts as Barthelmess leaves college after being insulted by a trio of brainless co-eds. He embarks on a world tour to discover himself and ends up as secretary to a British playwright (Claude King). In Monte Carlo he meets beautiful Alanna Wagner (Constance Bennett) and they fall in love. But when she discovers he is Chinese she goes berserk in a memorable scene.Plagued by guilt and love, Alanna goes into a mental spiral and makes a few attempts to contact Barthelmess. After his father dies he takes over the business (banking?) and dons Chinese garb as a symbol of his hatred of the White race that has spurned him. After a San Francisco detective tells him the truth about his birth, Barthelmess makes the decision to honor his Chinese father and mother.And I agree that one reviewer here never saw this film. Alanna declares her love for Sam BEFORE he tells her of his recent discovery. And that makes all the difference in this film.Barthelmess and Bennett each have a few scenes where they chew the scenery, but on the whole this is a solid and interesting drama. Frank Albertson is good as the nice college pal, Claude King is solid as the playwright Bathurst, Bess Flowers has one scene as an Oklahoma Indian, and E. Alyn Warren is the Chinese father, Dorothy Mathews is nasty Alice. Not so good are Anders Randolf as Bennett's father and Mildred Van Dorn as Eileen. Also note the gorgeous blonde to the right of Barthelmess at the roulette table. What a stunner whoever she was!

F Gwynplaine MacIntyre 'Son of the Gods', starring Richard Barthelmess, is a good example of how an actor's current performance is inflected by his (or her) previous performances. With the possible exception of "Tol'able David", Barthelmess's best (and best-known) role was his performance as the gentle Chinese immigrant in 'Broken Blossoms'. Barthelmess played that role with all the usual gimmicks employed by a white actor depicting an Oriental: sellotaped eyelids, cringing posture, the lot. Despite some racist and unpleasant 'Chinky' dialogue, Barthelmess brought genuine dignity and realism to his performance as a Chinese in 'Broken Blossoms'. Memories of his performance in that role must have helped considerably for the audience who watched Barthelmess in 'Son of the Gods' during its original release.SPOILERS COMING. Barthelmess here plays Sam Lee, the son of a wealthy Chinese merchant. In this role Barthelmess's eyelids are normal, which the audience might interpret as simply the director's decision to avoid a ridiculous make-up job. At any rate, Barthelmess doesn't in any way *look* Chinese. There's an awkward scene in which Sam and his father begin to converse in Chinese but then lapse into English, clearly for our benefit.Sam embarks on a world tour, in which he meets wealthy socialite Allana Wagner, played by Constance Bennett. She's supposed to be very beautiful, but I'm still waiting. Allana is attracted to Sam, not realising that he's Chinese. (He certainly doesn't look it, and his accent isn't Asian.) They fall in love. Eventually, though, she learns the truth. This provokes an extremely unpleasant scene in which Allana strikes Sam in the face with a riding crop, while calling him a yellow dog, a cur, a liar, a cheat. Meanwhile, other people stand about watching her do this, without interceding.Later, Allana falls ill (maybe from Chinese flu?). While she's on her sickbed, her father (Anders Randolf) tells Sam that Allana is calling for him in her delirium. Wagner prevails on Sam to visit his daughter. Sam does this, and she recovers, but Wagner shows no gratitude. His attitude seems to be that Sam is just a filthy Chinese, so no gratitude is necessary.SPOILER NOW. And here's where it gets really offensive. It turns out that Sam isn't Chinese after all. A retired lawman informs Sam that he's a white foundling, adopted in infancy. He never knew he's actually white! But now that Sam is safely Caucasian, Allana is perfectly willing to marry him. Even more strangely, Sam is eager to marry Allana after all. Is he a masochist?There is a nasty tradition of films and plays in which a white woman is attracted to a dark-skinned man but is simultaneously repelled because he is the 'wrong' colour ... only to learn that in fact he's a white man after all, whose complexion is down to many years of being tanned by the sun. Examples of this offensive scenario include 'The Sheik' (Arab turns out to be white foundling) and 'Whoopee!' (Amerindian turns out to be white foundling). 'Son of the Gods' is one more example of this dark genre. What makes it vaguely plausible is the fact that Barthelmess is best known for playing a (genuine) Chinese in a previous film, so we accept him as Chinese in 'Son of the Gods'.In this film's favour, there is a moving scene in which - after learning the truth about his ancestry - Sam decides that he considers himself Chinese after all, as he was raised by Chinese within the Chinese culture after his 'own' people abandoned him. Also, this film contains some very beautiful exterior scenes and some elaborate interiors. There's also a Technicolor sequence filmed in San Francisco's Chinatown ... regrettably, this sequence was seriously deteriorated in the print which I viewed.Constance Bennett (who never appealed to me) is neither physically attractive nor sympathetic in a role that's apparently meant to be both. Her role in this film is a racial bigot, yet we're not expected to perceive her that way. Apparently, we're meant to find it perfectly reasonable that she would be attracted to this white man, then repelled by him when she discovers he's not white, then attracted to him again when she learns he's white after all.If I were going to rate this film on its political correctness quotient, it might barely merit a rating of 2 out of 10. Setting aside the fact that this movie's story is extremely racist and extremely implausible both at the same go, there are substantial merits in its photography, art direction, Frank Lloyd's supervision, and in the performances of Barthelmess and several supporting actors (but not Bennett). Trying to judge this film by the standards of its time, I'll rate 'Son of the Gods' 7 points out of 10.