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.

YouTube trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCgjRIgTZug