AllMovie

Comedy is not as funny as its title would suggest. Although it has its moments, most of the characters, acting, and dialogue are warmed-over versions of well-worn precedents. The setting is Shanghai in the late 1940s when the leaders of the criminal underworld meet in that densely-packed city to decide on who will be "first among equals." Three buddies and petty thieves steal belongings from the criminal leaders, and then are mistaken by the same gangsters as high-level crooks themselves. That sets off a series of "funny" murders as the three try to escape their untenable situation.