The Hatchet Man (1932) is a pre-Code film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Edward G. Robinson.

The opening crawl reads: 'San Francisco's Chinatown 15 years ago (1917) had the largest Oriental population of any colony outside China.

The honorable title of “hatchet man” was passed from father to son by inheritance only, and it was he, with the aid of his sharp axe, who dispensed the justice of the great God Buddha...' “...Our story opens following the death of Hop Li, member of the powerful Lem Sing Tong, and we see his funeral procession passing down DuPont Street”... A huge dragon banner unfolds, declaring war.

He is stunned when the council president, Nog Hong Fah, tells him that Sun Yat Ming, his friend since childhood, is the guilty party.

Nog hires bodyguards, and the handsome young gangster, Harry En Hai (Leslie Fenton) is assigned to Wong.

Wong gives Toya and her happiness to Harry, making him swear, warning that if he breaks faith Buddha will find him.

He confronts Madame Si-Si and demands his wife, by ancient Chinese law and on the honor of a hatchet man.

[4] Throughout the film, Music Director Leo F. Forbstein uses variations on “Poor Butterfly“, a popular song released in 1916.

[5] TCM's Brian Cady observes: “As was typical of the time, almost no Asian actors appear in the cast of a film set completely among Chinese characters.

Rather than cast the film with all Asian actors, which would have then meant no star names to attract American audiences, studios simply eliminated most of the Asian actors from the cast.”[6] Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times described the film as a “grim melodrama...a fast-moving tale with an Oriental motif and one of its particularly effective features is the make-up of the players, not so much that of Mr. Robinson but of others, especially Dudley Digges and Loretta Young...” [2] International Photographer commended Robinson for maintaining audience sympathy despite "the gruesomeness of his (character's) art" and described Young's makeup (though not her acting) as "an artistic triumph.

"[7] Leonard Maltin gives the picture two and a half out of four stars, calling it a “Fascinating yarn about Chinatown tongs, and Robinson's attempts to Americanize himself.

Potent melodrama, once you get past obvious barrier of Caucasian cast.“[8] According to Warner Bros. records, the film earned $491,000 in the U.S. and $251,000 elsewhere.