NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (June 2024): Kino have transferred four of Arthur Dong's documentary films about Asians in America. They are Sewing Woman (1982), Forbidden City, U.S.A. (1989), Hollywood Chinese (2007) and The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor (2015) and are housed on a single, dual-layered, Blu-ray. The first two films were shot on 16mm and the final two on digital. There is a lot of older footage and stills that look okay in 1080P - some of better condition that others. The "Toy and Wing" dance sequence at the conclusion of Forbidden City, U.S.A. is hypnotic. The image quality is a direct function of the available sources. 

NOTE: We have added 76 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master tracks (24-bit) in the original English language. 2.0 channel for the first two films and 5.1 surround options for the latter two. There is a Khmer audio version for the last film. There are no aggressive effects. The scores are respectively by the likes of Bill Douglass (Woody Allen's September, Deconstructing Harry, Wayne Wang's Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart,) Gary Stockdale (a lot of TV and documentary work,) and for the final two films; Mark Adler (The Unbearable Lightness of Being.) It is reasonably clean and discernable via the lossless transfers. Sewing Woman has burned in English subtitles for the beginning in Mandarin. Kino offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers only an optional Khmer audio version of The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor. Sadly no commentaries which is, actually, common for comprehensive documentaries.

Arthur Dong had written books of both Hollywood Chinese: The Chinese in American Feature Films and Forbidden City, USA. His documentary film work is highly remarkable. I could not draw myself away from Sewing Woman - a fascinating 1/4 hour oral history of his mother, Zem Ping Dong, her arranged marriage in China, her rearing a family and her immigration to work in San Francisco's garment industry for over thirty years. Amazing. Forbidden City, U.S.A. runs an hour long and has interviews with Charlie Low, the owner of the Forbidden City club, Toy Yat Mar known as the 'Chinese Sophie Tucker', Dottie Sun, Dorothy Fong Toy; the 'Chinese Ginger Rogers', Noel Toy; the 'Chinese Sally Rand', Paul Wing, the 'Chinese Fred Astaire', Larry Ching; 'The 'Chinese Sinatra' plus many others. It shows an amazing historical perspective of these Asian performer's lives (tap dancers, Jazz singers, bubble dancers etc.), with clips and stills, including the sailor patrons, marketing, the venues and this lesser shown niche of San Francisco night life and captivating slice of Americana in the 30s and 40s. I really enjoyed it. The potentially offensive term 'oriental' is used to describe some Asian identities. Hollywood Chinese uses clips of more than 100 films and has interviews of prominent Chinese Americans in the film industry including Turhan Bey, Joan Chen, James Hong, Nancy Kwan, Ang Lee, Amy Tan, Wayne Wang etc. It's an engrossing look at Chinese in American cinema history and beyond. Feature length The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor documents the survivor of the Cambodian genocide Dr. Haing S. Ngor and follows the remarkable life of Chinese-Cambodian from forced labor camps to winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1985 for his debut performance in The Killing Fields. In 1988, he wrote Haing Ngor: A Cambodian Odyssey and was murdered in Los Angeles Chinatown in 1996. This film also just blew me away. The Kino Blu-ray, despite lack of extras, gets out highest recommendation. I found every film incredibly absorbing. Wow. Watch these!

Gary Tooze