THE PLOT, (with help from wiki, edited to this version).
A woman identifying herself as Evelyn Mulwray hires private investigator J. J. Gittes to survey her husband, Hollis Mulwray, chief engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Gittes tails him, hears him publicly oppose the creation of a new reservoir, and shoots photographs of him with a young woman, which are published on the front page of the following day's paper. Back at his office, Gittes is confronted by a woman who informs him she is the real Evelyn Mulwray, and that he can expect a lawsuit.
Realizing he was set up, Gittes assumes that Mulwray's husband is the real target. Before he can question him, Lieutenant Lou Escobar fishes Mulwray, drowned, from a freshwater reservoir. Under retainer to Mrs. Mulwray, Gittes investigates his suspicions of murder and notices that, although huge quantities of water are released from the reservoir every night, the land is almost dry. Gittes is warned off by Water Department Security Chief Claude Mulvihill and a henchman, who slashes Gittes's nose. Back at his office, Gittes receives a call from Ida Sessions, who identifies herself as the imposter Mrs. Mulwray. She is afraid to identify her employer, but tells Gittes to check the day's obituaries.
Gittes learns that Mulwray was once the business partner of his wife's wealthy father, Noah Cross. Over lunch at his personal club, Cross warns Gittes that he does not understand the forces at work, and offers to double Gittes's fee + ten thousand dollars to search for Mulwray's missing mistress.
Investigating the valley, he is attacked by angry landowners, who believe he is an agent of the water department attempting to force them out by sabotaging their water supply.
Gittes deduces that the water department is drying the land so it can be bought at a reduced price, and that Mulwray was murdered when he discovered the plan. He discovers that a former retirement home resident is one of the valley's new landowners, and seemingly purchased the property a week after his death. Evelyn and Gittes bluff their way into the home and confirm that the real estate deals are surreptitiously completed in the names of its residents.
After fleeing Mulvihill and his thugs, Gittes and Evelyn hide at Evelyn's house and sleep together. Early in the morning, Evelyn has to leave suddenly; she warns Gittes that her father is dangerous. Gittes follows her car to a house, where he spies her through the windows comforting Mulwray's mistress. He accuses Evelyn of holding the woman against her will, but she confesses that she is her sister.
At Evelyn's mansion, Gittes finds her servants packing her things. He realizes her garden pond is salt water and discovers a pair of glasses in it. He confronts Evelyn about her "sister"; after Gittes slaps her, she admits that the woman, Katherine, is her sister and her daughter: her father raped her when she was fifteen. She says that the eyeglasses are not Mulwray's, as he did not wear bifocals.
Gittes arranges for the women to flee to Mexico and instructs Evelyn to meet him at her butler's home in Chinatown. He summons Cross to the Mulwray home to settle their deal. Cross admits his intention to annex the Northwest Valley into the City of Los Angeles, then irrigate and develop it. Gittes accuses Cross of murdering Mulwray. Cross takes the bifocals and he and his men force Gittes at gunpoint to drive them to the women. When they reach the Chinatown address, the police are already there and detain Gittes. When Cross approaches Katherine, Evelyn shoots him in the arm and drives away with Katherine. The police open fire, killing Evelyn.
Cross clutches Katherine and leads her away, while Escobar orders Gittes released. Lawrence Walsh, one of Gittes's associates, tells him: "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."

This is one of the better cut downs from marketing films. There is only one cut that is a bit obvious but it is missed by most audiences. This was a Christmas present for me at least 25/30 years ago and was originally the 3 x 400ft version. About 10/15 years ago P Foster advertised Part 1 of the full feature for 9.99, I took this and was pleased to see there was only around 100/150 ft of duplicated footage, so rather than hack it I simply removed the duplication from the original 3 x 400 pt 1 and snapped the new part on, it required a 1200ft spool and is nice and full making a good mini feature into an excellent mini feature with full front credits. I haven’t projected it for 5 years so I was a bit worried that there would be total fade on pt 1, fortunately I was wrong, although the quality of the first pt is slightly softer than the rest of it the colour and sound are still very good, the images here don’t show the colour too well but it is a whole lot better than what you see here.
What this newer longer version does it set the story up properly without people in the audience asking,”whats happened now, who’s she”? The story is much better and for anyone who knows the full film you will know how crucial the first reel actually is as it introduces everyone within the plot.
The sharpness as with most marketing films is very good, (as mentioned pt 1 of the full feature is very slightly softer compared to the excellence of the remaining 3 x 400 ft spools), the colour has held very well, the blacks are black and the whites are pure white. The sound is excellent and the 1 hour running time is defiantly much improved.
There is a small scratch near the centre for around 3 minutes at the end of the original part 2 which was there from new so it has never bothered me. I gave it a filmguard clean before viewing last nigh and you would never know the age of this.
The quality of the original 3 parter is,
Image A sound A
The full feature pt 1
Image B+ Sound A

Great film and thanks for the review

Great film Tom I have had this on 16 but sadly the colour is turning,but still a great film.
Did not go much on the sequel "the two jakes"📽📽

Nice print Tom!😊😊

I never knew there was a a sequel, i dont think i would be interested in that, you can't top a classic with a sequel, (well, rarely anyway).

Thanks for the review! Great reading!