Saturday, October 31, 2015

Thousand Pieces of Gold (TV)



American Playhouse: Thousand Pieces of Gold – English title
Mil monedas de oro – Spanish title
Thousand Pieces of Gold – U.S.A. title

A 1990 British, U.S.A.  television co-production [Channel Four Films (London), American
    Playhouse, Filmcat, Maverick Picture Company (Hollywood)]
Producer: Nancy Kelly, Kenji Yamamoto
Director: Nancy Kelly
Story: “Thousand Pieces of Gold” by Ruthanne Lum McCunn
Teleplay: Anne Makepeace
Photography: Bobby Bukowski [color]
Music: Gary Remal Malkin
Running time: 105 minutes

Cast:
Lalu/China Polly – Rosalind Chao (Chao Jyalin)
Charlie Bemis – Chris Cooper
Hong King – Michael Paul Chan
Jim – Dennis Dun
Jonas – Jimmie F. Skaggs (Jimmie Neumier)
Miles – Will Oldham (William Oldham)
Ohio – David Hayward
Berthe – Beth Broderick
Li Ping – Kim Chan
Sailors – Chris Evans, James Lortz
Sayan – Weili Fan
Shun Lee – Evan C. Kim
Ah Ling – Freda Foh Shen
Watkins – John M. Hosking
Francoise – Mary Matvy
Parker – Albert J. Kalanick (A.J. Kallan)
Li Yuan – Mary Lee
Chen – Jianli Zhang
John Span – Ron Dorn (Ronald Dorn)
Lung On – George Kee Cheung
Miner – Gordon Malis
Li Mia – Saachiko
McFee – Brien D. Sankey
Buyer – Danny Wong
Soldier – Kerry Yo
A Cai – Gu Xing Zhong


Set in the 1880s, this film chronicles the journey of Lalu, a Chinese woman whose financially desperate family sells her as a bride. She is sent to the United States, where she is bought by sleazy barkeep Hong King, who plans to make money off of Lalu by forcing her into a life of prostitution. Unwilling to submit to his demands, she begins her own successful business venture and captures the attention of the troubled but kindly Charlie.

This film was shown on PBS stations in 1992.


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