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One of Elvis’ favorite books, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, was the work of Manly Palmer Hall, a Los Angeles-based esotericist who tried to break into the moving picture business long before Elvis did. In 1938, Hall appeared in an astrological murder mystery based on a story he sold Warner Bros., When Were You Born?

Anna May Wong plays Mei Lei Ming, a Chinese astrologer who uses her total omniscience to help the San Francisco police solve a crime. Each of the movie’s 12 characters has a different sun sign—awfully convenient for the plot, but an ingenious way of teaching the zodiac to an audience nonetheless. Hall defended the movie as “the first picture ever made by a major motion picture studio of the world dealing with the subject of astrology except as a joke or fraud.”

Master of the Mysteries: New Revelations on the Life of Manly Palmer Hall says the original version of Hall’s story “depicted astrologer Evangeline Adams as a ‘kind, old lady’ who happened to be a powerful influence on the stock exchange,” but the studio had other ideas:

    The plot would be more saleable as a murder mystery, [the powers-that-be] said, and more believable with a mysterious and sultry female lead. Hall grudgingly agreed, and came back with a revised version that became the only one of his original stories that was ever actually produced[...]

    [The script] called for a pet marmoset, but since the only marmoset available had already been rented out, Hall compromised on a little brown monkey named Venus.

    Hall consulted the stars for the best starting date and time: exactly 11:26 a.m. Feb. 9. It was reported that he must have gotten his stars mixed up because leading lady Wong was in bed with a cold that day. Hall insisted that although the studio had lived up to the letter of his starting time, it had not observed it in spirit. Director William McGann had shot the first scene at the prescribed moment, Hall agreed, but he had spent an hour or more rehearsing his cast before that. He complained that only one actor in the film was actually born under the character he played—in his case, Pisces, the fish.

    As a final touch, it was decided that the movie should open with Hall making an introductory on-camera speech explaining how astrology can forecast future events and, as he says, solve crime. Hall lamented having to do the scene, calling his cameo appearance a final blow to the project that had been tinkered with so much that he barely recognized it as his own. But the movie’s producers felt it was needed to help the public understand what the movie was all about.

https://dangerousminds.net/categories/category/occult/P20

From Wikipedia:

CAST

• Margaret Lindsay as Doris Kane (Leo)
• Anna May Wong as Mei Lei Ming (Aquarius)
• Lola Lane as Nita Kenton (Cancer)
• Anthony Averill as Larry Camp (Aries)
• Charles C. Wilson as Inspector Jim C. Gregg (Taurus)
• Jeffrey Lynn as Davis (Gemini)
• Eric Stanley as Shields (Virgo)
• James Stephenson as Phillip Corey (Libra)
• Leonard Mudie as Frederick Gow (Scorpio)
• Olin Howland as Peter Finlay (Sagittarius)
• Maurice Cass as Dr. Merton (Capricorn)
• Frank Jaquet as Sergeant Kelly (Pisces)

PLOT

On an ocean liner sailing from the Orient to San Francisco, Mei Lei Ming (Anna May Wong) gives fellow passenger Nita Kenton (Lola Lane) a reading. When Nita's boyfriend, importer Phillip Corey (James Stephenson), scoffs at her predictions, she informs him that he himself will die within 48 hours.

Corey is later found dead in his San Francisco shop, an apparent suicide. Police Inspector Jim C. Gregg (Charles C. Wilson) is certain it is a homicide and has Sergeant Kelly (Frank Jaquet) bring Mei Lei in for questioning. She convinces him she is innocent and, after demonstrating her astrological powers by telling both skeptical policemen about themselves based solely on their birth dates, proceeds to help them solve the case and two subsequent, related killings. Police forensic scientist Dr. Merton (Maurice Cass), however, remains firmly scornful of Mei Lei's unscientific methods.

When Corey's Chinese business partner Frederick Gow (Leonard Mudie) shows up at the police station, he recognizes Juggler Barrows (an uncredited Sidney Bracey), who has been brought in for questioning about an unrelated crime. He pretends to cough and uses a handkerchief to conceal his face from Barrows as he enters Gregg's office. There, he announces that he wants to recover certain business letters from Corey's safe. Mei Lei becomes suspicious. When the letters Gow wanted are later examined, Mei Lei discovers a coded message that indicates Corey and Gow were involved in drug smuggling.

Corey was engaged to Doris Kane (Margaret Lindsay), though she herself was not attracted to the man, preferring instead crack shot Larry Camp (Anthony Averill). Under questioning, Kane later reluctantly reveals that Corey had blackmailed her mother into pressuring her to accept the arrangement. She also acknowledges that she went to Corey's home the night he was killed to try to persuade him to break the engagement. She was followed by Camp, who then quarreled with the victim. A shot was fired, but Camp claims that Corey fired at him. Corey's valet, Shields (Eric Stanley) is also a suspect.

Meanwhile, Gow runs into Juggler Barrows. Barrows is astonished to see him, as Gow had deceived him into believing he was Corey. Gow is relieved to ascertain that Sergeant Kelly did not believe Barrows when he claimed to have spoken to "Corey" some time after the real Corey had been killed. He lures Barrows away. Later, Barrows' dead body is flung from a speeding car.

Convinced that Gow is the killer, Gregg goes to his apartment with Mei Lei and some policemen to search the place. Gow escapes through a hidden passageway. He spots Mei Lei alone in his reading room and takes her captive. However, Shields had seen Gow entering the secret passageway and followed. He shoots Gow dead. Mei Lei, seeing how good a shot he is, gets him to admit he killed his employer. Gow had hired Barrows to open Corey's safe. When Corey returned unexpectedly, they hid. Shields entered the room at just the wrong moment and was accused of theft. He was forced to shoot Corey in self-defense.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Were_You_Born