Best movie of this year hands down!

Blistering performances.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Robert Dix plays a hard-drinking, paddle-wheel, riverboat skipper in "See Here, Private Hargrove" director Wesley Ruggles' atmospheric adventure yarn "Roar of the Dragon," co-starring Edward Everett Horton, Garbo lookalike Gwili Andre, Arline Judge, and C. Henry Gordon. For the record, "Cimarron" scenarist Howard Estabrook derived his screenplay from George Kibbe Turner's novella "Passage to Hong Kong." Apparently, "King Kong" producer Merian C. Cooper and Jane Bigelow penned the story; I couldn't find anything more in depth about the historical background about this David O. Selznick producer, and IMDb states that there is no copyright for Turner's material. Nevertheless, this exciting 1932 melodrama occurs in Manchuria with a murderous Russian renegade on the rampage, Voronsky (C. Henry Gordon of "Mata Hari"), with his army of Tartar bandits. The ruthless Voronsky aims to exact vengeance on Captain Chauncey Carson (Richard Dix of "Cimarron") because our hero shot off most of the villain's left ear. Apparently, before the film unfolds, Voronsky had had an encounter with our gallant hero and damaged the paddle-wheel on Carson's steamboat. The heroic Carson and his passengers are holed up for the time being in a small town, while labors repair the paddle-wheel. Naturally, the commercial riverboat owner Johnson (Dudley Digges of "Son of Fury") isn't pleased with the way that things are happening when he receives the news that Voronsky has sworn to kill Carson and take the passengers hostage. While Voronsky allows his injured ear to heal, he dispatches a platoon of riflemen to attack the hotel where everybody is holed up. "Roar of the Dragon" takes place principally in the hotel where our heroes and heroines have fortified themselves against Voronsky's depredations. As it turns out, Carson has a small arsenal of weapons at his disposal, and they repulse the initial wave of horsemen with a tripod-mounted machine gun. When Voronsky' second in command returns with news that they haven't killed Carson and taken hostages, he shoots the man on the spot. Edward Everett Horton, who made a name of himself as the narrator of "The Bullwinkle Show," shows a different side of himself. He takes over as the man behind the machine gun and mows down his share of Voronsky's minions. This was a surprise to me since he usually plays more reserved characters in civilized movies. Most everybody escapes from the besieged hotel, but there are a few casualties. "Roar of the Dragon" unspools at a snappy pace and nobody gives a bad performance. Truly, it is tragic that Dix's leading lady, Gwili Andre, had such a brief career as an actress. She had been compared with Greta Garbo in appearance. Ruggles doesn't let the action slow down too often in this 67-minute actioneer.

The characters are not only stereotypes, but familiar stereotypes at that. Despite its faults, however, this mini epic holds the attention throughout. The action, somewhat gruesome and blood- curdling, tells how a determined (if constantly inebriated) ship's captain saves the lives of some of his passengers when the Chinese town at which they are docked for repairs is besieged by hordes of stirred-up bandits. Richard Dix plays the hero with his usual flair, whilst the exotic Gwili Andre most successfully enacts the tantalizing "heroine". The passengers emerge as much the usual bunch of Jacks and Jills, though no doubt their characterizations seemed fresher back in 1932. Dudley Digges tends to over-state the blustering holder-of-the-purse-strings, while ZaSu Pitts rapidly becomes a real pain as the "complaining woman", but the other players, particularly Edward Everett Horton as the resourceful Busby and Arline Judge as the helpful Bridgeport, impress as real but interesting flesh-and-blood human beings. C. Henry Gordon skilfully paints a nightmarish figure as the ruthless chief of the insurgents. At this stage of his career, director Wesley Ruggles was a master of his craft. Despite the efforts of Digges and Pitts to slow proceedings down, Ruggles never lets up the pressure and the pace. Not only does he keeps suspense at a high level from first to last, but creates just the right atmosphere, aided by Cronjager's picturesque photography, Clark's extensive but brooding sets and Steiner's cleverly contrasted music score. This movie is available on an excellent Warner Archive DVD coupled with "Men of America".

A collection of natives and Westerners barricade themselves in an old Chinese inn against the onslaught of fierce Tartar bandits.ROAR OF THE DRAGON is a very fine adventure film, with suspense & humor, plenty of excitement, first rate production values and good acting. It is indeed difficult to find anything to dislike about the movie and it stands up nicely to comparison with other similarly themed pictures of the period - SHANGHAI EXPRESS (1932), THE MASK OF FU MANCHU (1932) & THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN (1933).Richard Dix creates another sturdy performance as the alcoholic riverboat captain who takes charge in defending the folks sheltering in the inn. Dix gives us a character who's sensible, brave and absolutely no nonsense in dealing with deadly danger. But the film has another champion as well, and this one refreshingly unlikely. Wonderful character actor Edward Everett Horton eschews his normal Nervous Nellie nuances and rewards us with a civil servant who vigorously fights back against the terrorists, heroically aiding Dix despite terrible odds. He even gets to enjoy some tender romance before the film ends, leaving us with a most memorable characterization.Two lovely ladies grace the film - Gwili Andre as the mysterious gun-toting doll sought by the bandit chief and Arline Judge as the girl from Bridgeport, Connecticut, who finds love in the most unexpected place. Comedienne ZaSu Pitts plays the timid Lady from Omaha, thoroughly regretting her decision to travel around the world. Dudley Digges is the cowardly owner of the stranded riverboat, degraded enough to steal goat's milk from orphans. C. Henry Gordon is delightfully repulsive as the Russian leader of the bandits, whom we first encounter cauterizing the remains of his left ear, bitten off by Dix in a previous encounter.Movie mavens will spot an uncredited Willie Fung at the end of the picture playing a Chinese sailor.

This brisk action movie, set in deepest Manchuria, stars Richard Dix as a dipsomaniac riverboat captain thrust into a precarious situation: rescuing a mixed bag of travelers, children, and ne'e'r-do-wells from a bandit, played with wicked intent by C. Henry Gordon. Amongst the motley crew are Zasu Pitts as a nervous society lady, Arline Judge as a flapper with a heart of gold, and Danish-born Gwili Andre as a Garbo-like woman of mystery. The film is brilliantly shot by Edward Cronjager, with some top-notch action sequences, but Howard Estabrook's screenplay doesn't do enough to establish its characters, perhaps not surprising considering the film's 68 minute running time. Nonetheless, this gets a strong recommendation, especially for fans of pre-code cinema, who will appreciate scenes such as Gordon having a hot iron applied to the hole in his head where an ear used to be.