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| name = Confessions of an Opium Eater
| name = Confessions of an Opium Eater
| image = Confessions of an Opium Eater.jpg
| image = Confessions of an Opium Eater.jpg

| image_size =
| caption = [[Film poster]]
| caption = [[Film poster]]
| director = [[Albert Zugsmith]]
| director = [[Albert Zugsmith]]
| producer = Albert Zugsmith
| producer = Albert Zugsmith
| based_on = {{based on|''[[Confessions of an English Opium-Eater]]''<br>1821 story in ''[[London Magazine]]''|[[Thomas De Quincey]]}}
⚫
| writer = [[Thomas De Quincey]] (book) <br>[[Robert Hill (writer)|Robert Hill]] (film writer)
| writer = [[Seton I. Miller]]
⚫
| screenplay = [[Robert Hill (writer)|Robert Hill]] (film writer)
| narrator = [[Vincent Price]]
| narrator = [[Vincent Price]]
| starring = Vincent Price<br>Linda Ho<br>[[Richard Loo]]<br>[[Philip Ahn]]
| starring = Vincent Price<br />Linda Ho<br />[[Richard Loo]]<br />[[Philip Ahn]]
| music = [[Albert Glasser]]
| music = [[Albert Glasser]]
| cinematography = [[Joseph F. Biroc]]
| cinematography = [[Joseph F. Biroc]]
| editing = Robert S. Eisen<br>[[Roy V. Livingston]]
| editing = Robert S. Eisen<br />[[Roy V. Livingston]]<br>[[Edward Curtiss]]
| studio = Photoplay
| studio = Photoplay
| distributor = [[Monogram Pictures|Allied Artists Pictures]]
| distributor = [[Monogram Pictures|Allied Artists Pictures]]
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| gross =
| gross =
}}
}}
'''''Confessions of an Opium Eater''''' also known as '''Souls for Sale''' and '''Evils of Chinatown'''<ref>https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055864/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt</ref> is a 1962 American [[crime film]] produced and directed by [[Albert Zugsmith]]. It is loosely based on the 1822 [[autobiographical novel]] ''[[Confessions of an English Opium-Eater]]'', written by [[Thomas De Quincey]]. After circulating for years as a [[bootleg (film)|bootleg]], it was released on [[Digital Video Disc|DVD]] as part of the [[Warner Archive Collection]] in 2012.<ref>http://www.wbshop.com/product/confessions+of+an+opium+eater+aka+souls+for+sale+1000347310.do</ref>
'''''Confessions of an Opium Eater''''' also known as '''Souls for Sale''' and '''Evils of Chinatown'''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055864/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt|title = Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962) - IMDb|website = [[IMDb]]}}</ref> is a 1962 American [[crime film]] produced and directed by [[Albert Zugsmith]]. It is loosely based on the 1821 [[autobiographical novel]] ''[[Confessions of an English Opium-Eater]]'', written by [[Thomas De Quincey]]. After circulating for years as a [[bootleg (film)|bootleg]], it was released on [[Digital Video Disc|DVD]] as part of the [[Warner Archive Collection]] in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wbshop.com/product/confessions+of+an+opium+eater+aka+souls+for+sale+1000347310.do |title=Confessions of an Opium Eater (Aka Souls for Sale) &#124; WBshop.com &#124; Warner Bros |website=www.wbshop.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928005722/http://www.wbshop.com/product/confessions+of+an+opium+eater+aka+souls+for+sale+1000347310.do |archive-date=2012-09-28}}</ref>


This film stars [[Vincent Price]] as Gilbert de Quincey, a nineteenth-century adventurer who becomes involved in a [[tong war]] in [[San Francisco]]. Price also narrated the film, whose evocative cinematography resembles a nightmare. The film was something of a departure for Price; the prolific actor never performed another role that involved so much physical [[action film|action]].<ref>{{cite web |URL=http://brightlightsfilm.com/71/71confessions_nortz.php |title=Could You Spare Me a Nightmare? The World of Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962) |website=brightlighrsfilm.com |first=Sean |last=Nortz |date=May 27, 2014 |accessdate=March 26, 2021}}</ref>
This film stars [[Vincent Price]] as Gilbert de Quincey, a nineteenth-century adventurer who becomes involved in a [[tong war]] in [[San Francisco]]. Price also narrated the film, whose evocative cinematography resembles a nightmare. The film was something of a departure for Price; the prolific actor never performed another role that involved so much physical [[action film|action]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://brightlightsfilm.com/71/71confessions_nortz.php |title=Could You Spare Me a Nightmare? The World of Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962) |website=brightlighrsfilm.com |first=Sean |last=Nortz |date=May 27, 2014 |accessdate=March 26, 2021}}</ref>


==Plot==
==Plot==
In 1902, adventurer Gilbert De Quincey, a descendant of [[Thomas De Quincey]]. is hired by the editor of a Chinese newspaper to stop auctions of [[Human trafficking|trafficked]] Chinese women to be the brides of Chinese men resident in the United States. The community is split down the middle with those feeling the traditional practice is the only way for overseas Chinese to obtain brides, and those who regard the practise as indecent.
In 1902, adventurer Gilbert De Quincey, a descendant of [[Thomas De Quincey]], is hired by the editor of a Chinese newspaper to stop auctions of [[Human trafficking|trafficked]] Chinese women to be the brides of Chinese men resident in the United States. The community is split down the middle between those feeling the traditional practice is the only way for overseas Chinese to obtain brides, and those who regard the practise as indecent.


==Cast==
==Cast==
* [[Vincent Price]] as Gilbert De Quincey
* [[Vincent Price]] as Gilbert De Quincey
* Linda Ho as Ruby Low
* [[Linda Ho]] as Ruby Low
* [[Richard Loo]] as George Wah
* [[Richard Loo]] as George Wah
* June Kyoto Lu as Lotus (as June Kim)
* [[June Kyoto Lu]] as Lotus (as [[June Kim]])
* [[Philip Ahn]] as Ching Foon
* [[Philip Ahn]] as Ching Foon
* Yvonne Moray as the midget girl with [[Sing-song girl|sing-sing voice]]<ref>https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96484783/yvonne-moray</ref>
* [[Yvonne Moray]] as the midget girl with [[Sing-song girl|sing-sing voice]]
* Caroline Kido as Lo Tsen
* [[Caroline Kido]] as Lo Tsen
* [[Terence De Marney]] as English sailor
* [[Terence De Marney]] as Englishman in opium den


==Reception==
==Reception==
In 1998, [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]] of the ''[[Chicago Reader]]'' included the film in his unranked list of the best American films not included on the [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies|AFI Top 100]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Rosenbaum |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Rosenbaum |date=June 25, 1998 |title=List-o-Mania: Or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love American Movies |url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/list-o-mania/Content?oid=896619 |newspaper=[[Chicago Reader]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413120818/https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/list-o-mania/Content?oid=896619 |archive-date=April 13, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref>
In 1998, [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]] of the ''[[Chicago Reader]]'' included the film in his unranked list of the best American films not included on the [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies|AFI Top 100]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Rosenbaum |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Rosenbaum |date=June 25, 1998 |title=List-o-Mania: Or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love American Movies |url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/list-o-mania/Content?oid=896619 |newspaper=[[Chicago Reader]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413120818/https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/list-o-mania/Content?oid=896619 |archive-date=April 13, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Quotes==
''I am De Quincey. I dream, and I create dreams — out of the opium pipe. I see sailing into our vision a junk. Its cargo: women. Women bought or stolen from all over the mysterious Orient. Their destination, and mine: the human auctions in Chinatown.''

==Trivia==
{{Unsourced|section}}
James Hong was given a script in 1962. He thought it was terrible – "all the roles were the opium dope people and the prostitutes and so forth." He and approached [[Albert Zugsmith]] to make a case for a rewrite.


==See also==
==See also==
*[[List of American films of 1962]]
* [[List of American films of 1962]]
*''[[Confessions of an English Opium-Eater]]''
* ''[[Confessions of an English Opium-Eater]]''
*[[Opium]]
* [[Opium]]
*[[Thomas De Quincey]]
* [[Thomas De Quincey]]


==References==
==References==
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==External links==
==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0055864|Confessions of an Opium Eater}}
* {{IMDb title|0055864|Confessions of an Opium Eater}}
* {{allMovie title|1063289}}
* {{TCMDb title|id=71398}}
* {{AFI film|23030}}


{{Albert Zugsmith}}
{{Albert Zugsmith}}
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[[Category:1962 crime drama films]]
[[Category:1962 crime drama films]]
[[Category:American crime drama films]]
[[Category:American crime drama films]]
⚫
[[Category:American films]]
⚫
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Allied Artists films]]
[[Category:Allied Artists films]]
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[[Category:Chinatown, San Francisco in fiction]]
[[Category:Chinatown, San Francisco in fiction]]
[[Category:Films about race and ethnicity]]
[[Category:Films about race and ethnicity]]
[[Category:Films about drugs]]
[[Category:Films about opium]]
[[Category:1960s exploitation films]]
[[Category:1960s exploitation films]]
[[Category:Psychedelic films]]
[[Category:Psychedelic films]]
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[[Category:Works about sex trafficking]]
[[Category:Works about sex trafficking]]
[[Category:Human trafficking in the United States]]
[[Category:Human trafficking in the United States]]
[[Category:Films about human trafficking in the United States]]
[[Category:Films about substance abuse]]
[[Category:Films set in 1902]]
⚫
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Albert Zugsmith]]
⚫
[[Category:1960s American films]]
[[Category:English-language crime drama films]]


{{1960s-crime-drama-film-stub}}
{{1960s-crime-drama-film-stub}}
{{1960s-US-film-stub}}

Latest revision as of 05:28, 17 September 2024

Confessions of an Opium Eater
Film poster
Directed byAlbert Zugsmith
Written bySeton I. Miller
Screenplay byRobert Hill (film writer)
Based onConfessions of an English Opium-Eater
1821 story in London Magazine
by Thomas De Quincey
Produced byAlbert Zugsmith
StarringVincent Price
Linda Ho
Richard Loo
Philip Ahn
Narrated byVincent Price
CinematographyJoseph F. Biroc
Edited byRobert S. Eisen
Roy V. Livingston
Edward Curtiss
Music byAlbert Glasser
Production
company
Photoplay
Distributed byAllied Artists Pictures
Release date
  • June 20, 1962 (1962-06-20) (United States)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Confessions of an Opium Eater also known as Souls for Sale and Evils of Chinatown[1] is a 1962 American crime film produced and directed by Albert Zugsmith. It is loosely based on the 1821 autobiographical novel Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, written by Thomas De Quincey. After circulating for years as a bootleg, it was released on DVD as part of the Warner Archive Collection in 2012.[2]

This film stars Vincent Price as Gilbert de Quincey, a nineteenth-century adventurer who becomes involved in a tong war in San Francisco. Price also narrated the film, whose evocative cinematography resembles a nightmare. The film was something of a departure for Price; the prolific actor never performed another role that involved so much physical action.[3]

Plot

[edit]

In 1902, adventurer Gilbert De Quincey, a descendant of Thomas De Quincey, is hired by the editor of a Chinese newspaper to stop auctions of trafficked Chinese women to be the brides of Chinese men resident in the United States. The community is split down the middle between those feeling the traditional practice is the only way for overseas Chinese to obtain brides, and those who regard the practise as indecent.

Cast

[edit]

Reception

[edit]

In 1998, Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader included the film in his unranked list of the best American films not included on the AFI Top 100.[4]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962) - IMDb". IMDb.
  2. ^ "Confessions of an Opium Eater (Aka Souls for Sale) | WBshop.com | Warner Bros". www.wbshop.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-28.
  3. ^ Nortz, Sean (May 27, 2014). "Could You Spare Me a Nightmare? The World of Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962)". brightlighrsfilm.com. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  4. ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (June 25, 1998). "List-o-Mania: Or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love American Movies". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on April 13, 2020.
[edit]


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