"The Yellow Jacket" is undoubtedly quite different from the usual run of plays to be seen today. Whether this is an advantage or a disadvantage is a matter of opinion. The difference lies in the fact that the play is intentionally unrealistic in the extreme. The scene of the action is the stage of a Chinese theatre. The Property Man (Arthur Shaw) sits off to one side drinking tea and smoking a cigarette. Every so often he gets up with a bored look, to tend to his duties. He throws down a red cushion to signify a gory head, tosses pieces of paper around to depict a snowstorm, etc. The sheer artificiality of this conventional, pseudo-Chinese method of representation is at first somewhat startling, then vaguely amusing, but finally becomes pretty bore-some. However, the completely disinterested attitude of the Property Man, who never says a word during the entire performance, does furnish a certain amount of entertainment.

Charles Coburn, as the Chorus, gives a good, but by no means brilliant performance in a rather colourless part. Mrs. Coburn also does well as Chee Moo, the first wife of Wu Sin Yin the Great. But the whole business is a definitely pedestrian affair. The only really attractive character is Tso (Mary Hutchinson). As the scheming maid she is intriguing.