This paper examines the production conditions of Chinese language films in America between 1933 and 1948 by analyzing historical materials and available films belonging to that period.

Over 30 Cantonese films were made in America between 1933 and 1948. Most of these films were produced by the Grandview Film Company, which was established by a Chinese immigrant, Joseph Chiu. Section one of this study traces the details of how Grandview Film Company began shooting Chinese language films in America and why it moved to Hong Kong soon after its foundation. Section two focuses on a film, The Light of Overseas Chinese (1940), and suggests that after the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, this film, made in America, played an important role in constructing a unified overseas Chinese identity. Section three investigates the effect of the improvement in the status of Chinese immigrants after the Exclusion Act was abolished in 1943 and analyzes the symbolic structures in the film Eternal Love (1947). This investigation highlights the fact that these films, which were made in the process of identity transition, reflected the unsettled identity of Chinese immigrants.