Dangerous to Know

Based on a popular play by Edgar Wallace, Robert Florey’s Dangerous to Know is an unusual, dreamy proto-noir that features an astonishingly modern, complicated relationship between racketeer Stephan Recka (Akim Tamiroff) and his Chinese prostitute-mistress-housekeeper-lover-friend Madame Lan Ying (Anna May Wong). The strange and wealthy Recka runs the city, kills his competitors, and plays Bach on his organ, but all his power and influence can’t win over Margaret Van Chase (Gail Patrick), the socialite who comes from old money and plans to marry the penniless Phillip Easton (Harvey Stephens). Recka will pursue Margaret at all costs, even as Lan Ying demonstrates her love and devotion to him at every opportunity. (The Tamiroff-Wong chemistry is strangely thrilling to behold.) Lloyd Nolan plays Inspector Brandon who’s on a mission to nab Recka for his long history of getting away with murder. Much of the film feels like a fugue state, as Florey adds a degree of artistry that defies expectations: the opening sequence takes place at Recka’s birthday party, yet the guests wear black and the music is funereal; the climactic scene in which Wong weeps silently to “Thanks for the Memories” presages a tragically twisted resolution.