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The Bitter Tea of General Yen (Frank Capra, 1933)
Exotic, unique, one-of-a-kind film by Capra still deserves to be seen, enjoyed and debated. Although Capra had already made 20 feature films in the seven years prior to this film, this is the the greatest example of his filmmaking technique up to this point. On display are his expert use of montage, special effects, crowd scenes, florid cinematography, musical score and sound design, handling of actors, humor, cinematic storytelling, and yes, sentimentality. This film contains more actual "action" scenes that any other Capra flick, but when you come right down to it, it may also contain more "sex" scenes, even though the story is one of a "taboo" love.
The film shows an Americanized version of the events occuring in China in the early 1930s. The film says that there is a Civil War going on in the middle of the West trying to indoctrinate the land with Christian missionaries. The suggestion of a war with Japan is never mentioned. Additionally, General Yen (a terrific character) is portrayed by Danish actor Nils Asther (in easily his greatest performance), but nowadays some people have a problem with a White portraying an Asian. Before you jump on the racist bandwagon, make sure to watch the film and compare all the performances to what you might expect if a Chinese actor were cast in the title role. Hawaiian-born Chinese actor Richard Loo does have a prominent role in the film, but he plays the general's military second-in-command.
Even with all of Capra's cinematic talent and Asther's super performance, the film belongs to Barbara Stanwyck as the American missionary who's forced to undergo a transformation due to her experiences in China, and she's extremely sexy. Capra's longtime co-star Walter Connelly also turns in a wonderfully-jaded performance as General Yen's American Secretary of the Treasury. I think I've already spent too much time discussing this underseen film, so my recommendation is to seek it out. No matter what you think of it, it should be incomparable to anything else you've ever seen, and it has historical and cinematic significance.
Exotic, unique, one-of-a-kind film by Capra still deserves to be seen, enjoyed and debated. Although Capra had already made 20 feature films in the seven years prior to this film, this is the the greatest example of his filmmaking technique up to this point. On display are his expert use of montage, special effects, crowd scenes, florid cinematography, musical score and sound design, handling of actors, humor, cinematic storytelling, and yes, sentimentality. This film contains more actual "action" scenes that any other Capra flick, but when you come right down to it, it may also contain more "sex" scenes, even though the story is one of a "taboo" love.
The film shows an Americanized version of the events occuring in China in the early 1930s. The film says that there is a Civil War going on in the middle of the West trying to indoctrinate the land with Christian missionaries. The suggestion of a war with Japan is never mentioned. Additionally, General Yen (a terrific character) is portrayed by Danish actor Nils Asther (in easily his greatest performance), but nowadays some people have a problem with a White portraying an Asian. Before you jump on the racist bandwagon, make sure to watch the film and compare all the performances to what you might expect if a Chinese actor were cast in the title role. Hawaiian-born Chinese actor Richard Loo does have a prominent role in the film, but he plays the general's military second-in-command.
Even with all of Capra's cinematic talent and Asther's super performance, the film belongs to Barbara Stanwyck as the American missionary who's forced to undergo a transformation due to her experiences in China, and she's extremely sexy. Capra's longtime co-star Walter Connelly also turns in a wonderfully-jaded performance as General Yen's American Secretary of the Treasury. I think I've already spent too much time discussing this underseen film, so my recommendation is to seek it out. No matter what you think of it, it should be incomparable to anything else you've ever seen, and it has historical and cinematic significance.