When Were You Born (1938)

What a waste of my time!!!

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

When Were You Born (1938) is an non-credited remake of From Headquarters (1933). The plot is the same. The differences are WWYB introduces an astrologer to aid the police, while FH is a straight police procedural.While both are interesting "B" pictures, FH is, in my opinion, the better of the two. It has more stylish photography, moves along a bit faster, and has a somewhat better cast (though Margaret Lindsay appears in both films as a lead).Watch closely in this version, however, and you will see TV's The Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore) without his mask. (by Dr. Charles G. Waugh)

When Were You Born? (1938)An interesting angle on the murder mystery genre adding astrology to the caper flick. It's a simple B movie, but very entertaining. It comes off kind serious with a mysterious Manley P. Hall telling us about astrology (sort of like Ed Wood style). Naturally, all twelve characters of the zodiac will be featured in this film.Beautiful Anna May Wong is the Chinese-American astrologer, Mei Lei Ming, who has a lot of insight to the people she meets. She meets Phil Corey (James Stephenson) on board a ship from China to San Francisco, U.S.A. and predicts that he will die within a couple of days. When Corey is killed, Miss Ming is one of the prime suspects.Soon a very doubting taurus, Inspector Jim Gregg (Charles C. Wilson) considers having Miss Ming hang around just to give her insights over the various suspects.

...because of ANNA MAE WONG!!!Typically tight (65") WARNER BROTHERS' mystery 'B' programmer that was churned out from the 1930s' till the mid 1950s', when T.V. took over. This story is wrapped up in the 'pseudo science' of Astrology. Which each character is given a sign and a sub-plot of the Zodiac. It starts off with the 'horoscope' of Nita Kenton (Lola Lane/Cancer) whose character disappears after the proclamation of doom for Philip Corey (James Stephenson/Libra). The rest of the story weaves around his murder and how it is deciphered by Mei Lei Ming (Anna Mae Wong/Aquarius) and her astrological expertise.Though billed second after Margaret Lindsay (Doris Kane/Leo) it is ANNA MAE WONG that drives this story. Ms. Wong gives her usual professional performance dominating every scene she is in. Unfortunately like most of her Hollywood productions of this time it is in a 'B' effort. Most of her more accomplished efforts having been done earlier or in England/Europe. This was because of the racial discrimination of the time. Today her career would have had a entirely different course.Due to how Chinese or Oriental characters where portrayed at that time Ms. Wong appeared in what was considered traditional dress. While all other characters appeared in period apparel. It would have been better if she had been shown off in some of the 'chic' fashions she normally wore. There is no doubt of her physical appeal, Ms. Wong being strikingly attractive.For those who have not seen Ms. Wong this is a good start, but do not stop here. See her early work like THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1924), PICADILLY (1929) or the SHANGHEI EXPRESS (1933). She is a wonder to behold.

This B-movie murder mystery is unquestionably different than most films of it's time. The clap-trap about using astrology as a crime fighting tool is an odd gimmick, but what the heck?This sort of programmer benefits from the unusual astrology "window-dressing", and though it is supposedly solved by using astrology, this pat little mystery can be figured out by the characters simply using their heads, anyway!The cast is entirely competent, and the pace is swift. The pre-war San Francisco Chinatown background, the hidden passage-ways in the Chinatown home, and Miss Wong's monkey, all add to the enjoyment of this film.As a devoted fan of B-movie murder yarns of this period, I may be somewhat prejudiced, but I loved watching this film, and highly recommend it to fellow fans of the genre. --D.--