The Riddle Of The Chinese Jade
Reviewed by Bruce Dettman

For a time in the 1980s I lived only a stone's throw from San Francisco's Chinatown. During this epriod, I got to know the area fairly well, not just he well-travelersed areas of the chessy souvenir shops and Szechwan eateries, but the half-hidden nooks and crannies as well. Returning to my North Beach apartment late at night, wishing to avoid tourist gridlock - and admittedly always exhibiting a penchant for out of the way noctural haunts- I would slip down narrow back streets and dingy alleys, many of them unchanged from the days of the Tong Wars. It was not unusual on these treks to glimpse sweatshops and peculiar things going on in dimly lit upstairs rooms. On one memorable occassion, however, I nearly walked right into the middle of a turf war between rival gangs out to control the lucritive firecracker trade rife in the neighborhood. I was just half a block away from the action when gunfire began. When the smoke cleared three young men were dead. It was the last time I went in for noctural prowling in Chinatown.

The Chinatown in Riddle of the Chinese Jade seems a tamer, more benevolent sort of place. Remove the Asian population and it pretty much looks like every other location in Metropolis during that first year of TAoS, in other words, just another RKO-Pathe Studio's street scene, rather bleak and dark but benign.

Clark and Lois- on what must have seemed a tame assignment for them- have been sent to interview antique storeowner Lu Sung (Paul Burns who was also featured in the later Star of Fate episode) about the benevolent decision to donate the priceless Quan Yin Jade statue to the National Art Museum. Not so crazy about the idea is shop manager Harry Wong, in love with Lu Sung's niece Lily, who believes the jade piece actually belongs to the girl and who brokers a deal with criminal John Greer to help steal it.

This is another lean, tough and violent first year episode, just the sort of show Kellogg's folks must have cringed at. Particularly nasty is a scene where the brutal Greer, who has just beat the tar out of Harry, sees Lily trying to escape with the jade, throws her to the couch, straddles her and strikes her several times in the kisser. Greer is portrayed by the British-born James Craven who appeared in numerous films during his career but who is known to genre films for his appearances in several cliffhangers including Captain Midnight, The Flying Disc Man from Mars and The Green Archer. It was Craven, in King of the Rocketmen, who as an aeronautical designer, created the famous jet pack later worn by Rocketman, Commando Cody and others. Craven did a lot of TV work in the 50s including playing Wyatt Earp on Stories From The Century. In serials, particularly under the dirtection of James Horne, he had a tendency to ham it up, but as Greer he is nicely menacing. My favorite moment is when he kidnaps Lois at gunpoint (Phyllis Coates, of course, never one to go gently into the night, earlier tries to take a swing at him with her purse) and is cornered in an alley by Superman. Apparently, Greer has absolutely no idea who the Man of Steel is and asks Lois about him.

"Who's the guy in the circus suit?"

"That's Superman."

"This time he's not so super, is he?"

"Wait and see."

As it turns out, Greer has about five seconds to wait and see before Superman lands in his face and (in a speeded up sequence) uses the criminal for a mid-day punching bag.

No Jimmy or Perry in this episode. Maybe they were off on one of Perry's fishing trips that the cub reporter hated so much (and who, given events in The Evil Three, could blame him?). Henderson is on hand, however, and Ben Freeman's script, up until the silly end where the copper lets Hong off scot-free (can you imahe how Greer would scream about that in court about that?), makes the lawman unusually testy and confrontational, particularly with Kent  "I wouldn't know bamboo dust from goober featers!"). Lily is Gloria Suanders who made something of a career out of playing exoctic roles including a stiny as the Dragon Lady on the TV version of Terry and the Pirates. And speaking of regular stints, Victor Sen Yung spent many seasons as Hop Sing on the long-running western Bonanza cooking for the Cartwright clan where, given Hoss' appetite for anything not bolted to the floor, he might have appreciated Superman's help carrying in those huge platters.

Bruce - November 2005
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