Crooked Streets on AllMovie

This spy melodrama was based on a novel by Samuel Merwin called Dinner at Eight, though it bears no relation whatsoever to the Edna Ferber/George S. Kaufman play by the same name. Gail Ellis (Ethel Clayton) lands a job as secretary to Professor Griswold (Clarence H. Geldart), an antiques dealer, and she travels with him and his wife (Josephine Crowell) to the Orient. Her adventurous spirit disturbs the Griswolds, but Rupert O'Dare (Jack Holt), who works at an antique store in Shanghai, finds it appealing. When she is accosted by a group of French sailors, O'Dare comes in handy, challenging the man who grabs her to a fight. O'Dare wins, but when Gail discovers that he is really a British detective, she takes off. He goes to the hotel where the Griswolds are staying, and when he finds them making off with a load of antiques, he tries to put them under arrest. He is overpowered, but then Gail shows up with the police. It turns out that she works for the American secret service and the Griswolds are opium smugglers. With her assignment done, she is able to resume her romance with O'Dare.