Lai Yee's First Hollywood Film

Last month I posted about Lai Yee (aka Marianne Quon), Hong Kong cinema's "Technicolor Movie Queen", and her previous career in Hollywood during the 40s. Lai's first American film was China (1943), starring Loretta Young and Alan Ladd. Young plays a school teacher trying to transport her Chinese students to safety, and Ladd plays a hard-boiled mercenary who sells oil to the Japanese army. Lai stars as one of the students, whose tragic demise after being raped by Japanese soldiers awakens Ladd's conscience and spurs him into joining the Chinese cause.

The film is a vehicle for Loretta Young and Alan Ladd, but 19-year-old Lai Yee has a few good scenes, including this one.