romanorum1
After the collapse of the Monarchy of China – the Manchu Dynasty in 1912 – various warlords with their private armies and areas of control were temporarily dominant. So in the film's beginning we are introduced to the chaos in Chinese cities that resulted from intense fighting between factions. During a powerful rainstorm, Megan Davis (Barbara Stanwyck) meets General Yen (Nils Asther) briefly after her rickshaw driver is run down by his automobile. Miss Davis is on her way to a marriage with a Protestant churchman, Dr. Robert Strike (Gavin Gordon), in Shanghai. But Bob finds out that there are children to be rescued at St. Andrew's Orphanage in Chapei. At the reception the minister demonstrates his priorities; he tells Megan that he wants to briefly delay the marriage and work quickly to save the children. They travel to General Yen's HQ to get the necessary travel pass to Chapei. Yen thinks that Bob is stupid to defer his marriage to an attractive woman, and thus gives him a worthless document that mocks Bob. Thus Bob and Megan have difficulty in removing the orphaned Asian and Caucasian children. In the chaos and fighting they become separated, but Megan gets rescued by Yen, who places her in a bedroom on his troop train. Later, while asleep in his palace, she is awakened by a firing squad; the general is eliminating his enemies. As Megan is horrified, Yen philosophizes that it is better to die quickly then slowly starve to death, as he has no rice to feed his prisoners. Out of deference to Megan he has the surviving prisoners moved, but only to be executed out of earshot. Megan calls him a "yellow swine." Yen's reaction is passive. In conversation with his financial adviser Jones (Walter Connolly), Yen says he plans on keeping Megan in custody. When Jones responds that she is white, Yen replies, "That's all right. I have no prejudice against her color." Jones retorts, "Well, it's no skin off my nose." While in custody Megan tries to bribe Yen's concubine Mah-Li (Toshia Mori) to get a message to Bob. But Mah-Li is treacherous: She takes Megan's payment (a ring) but hides the message. Before the half-way mark of the movie there is a fascinating dream sequence. In it Yen is a Chinese caricature-monster who breaks down Megan's bedroom door to get at her. But she is rescued by a masked man who knocks the monster out flat. When she unmasks her hero, she discovers that it is … Yen the rescuer! They kiss and caress as Megan is awakened by Yen dressed in traditional Chinese clothing. Skeptical of missionaries, Yen asks her if she knows anything of Chinese artistic culture: poetry, music, painting. Of course she knows nothing as she has only been in China for a few days. The general reminds her to accept his dinner invitation (Megan rejected previous ones). Meanwhile Megan has noticed that Mah-Li is courted by Chinese Captain Li (Richard Loo), Yen's aide. At dinner, Jones talks too much. A war profiteer, he has been a master at gaining money from the provincials for the general at no small profit for himself. That does not matter to Yen, as long as the goals of the two men are congruent. Meanwhile Yen removes Mah-Li's jade bracelets and rings and presents them to Megan, who refuses them. Although they are forced upon her, Megan returns them to Mah-Li, who Yen has discovered has been betraying military secrets to his enemies. Megan successfully pleads for Mah-Li's life but by doing so becomes Yen's willful hostage.But Mah-Li is habitually disloyal. There is a short but thrilling action scene when two trains are parked parallel. A signal is made, and a company of soldiers hiding in the gondola car of one open fire at the other (Yen's money train). The shots are returned, but Yen's forces are overcome as his enemies drive the train away. Mah-Li has again betrayed Yen to his enemy (General Feng) and has duped Megan. Without money, Yen's soldiers begin deserting him; his spacious palace becomes empty. More than fifteen minutes of movie time is focused on the pragmatic general's last day. With hope lost, Yen has to drink the bitter tea, but he dies in the arms of Megan. Megan and Jones sail back to Shanghai. Nils Asther, the only non-Asian to play an oriental in this film, has a tremendously strong screen presence. As General Yen, he plays his role with dignity and intelligence, and is mannerly. Barbara Stanwyck was usually good ("Stella Dallas," "Double Indemnity," "Walk on the Wild Side," "The Big Valley"). Toshia Mori, a Japanese-American, played her Chinese character well. She had some movie roles in the 1920s and 1930s. Walter Connolly as Jones is a sufficient oily profiteer who cares only for his master: money!Frank Capra, one of America's greatest directors, is noted for well- crafted movies and impeccable set designs (note Yen's palace), even with lower budgets. He was masterful in visual geometry and at using light and shadow for setting mood. Capra's gifts extended to action sets and character development. Although a Sicilian immigrant, he lived the American dream, and thus his successful movies often focused on idealistic Americana. Three times Columbia's great director won an Academy Award for Best Movie in the 1930s; in 1939 he was chosen the top Hollywood director by Time Magazine. It was only after World War II when a deflated public became skeptical, and so his "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) was not initially appreciated. In time Capra's genius was again recognized, and that movie is now a perennial Christmas classic for new generations. Capra directed the best actors and actresses of his time, including Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, Spencer Tracy, Claude Rains, Walter Brennan, Walter Huston, Claudette Colbert, Loretta Young, Jean Arthur, Katherine Hepburn, Donna Reed, and Eleanor Parker.
moonspinner55
Frank Capra (billed with his middle initial R.) directed this bizarre tale for Columbia Pictures, possibly in a bid for career prestige but instead seeming somewhat out of his element. In strife-ridden Shanghai, American girl Barbara Stanwyck arrives to work as a missionary and marry her doctor-partner, but they are separated in the midst of the political chaos and she is kidnapped by an exotic Chinese General. At the heart of this story, a nutty one by Grace Zaring Stone with a screenplay from Edward E. Paramore Jr., is the trust that develops between the powerful, apathetic war-lord and his headstrong Christian captive--a trust which eventually backfires on the General when his confidante (with unknowing assistance from the lady) double-crosses him. Stanwyck dreams of being ravished by Nils Asther (who rescues her while dressed in American garb from his Oriental 'evil' side), but we don't perceive just what the General sees in this girl. Certainly Stanwyck is lovely, grounded, and sympathetic, however her character is often exasperating and illogical. Could this high-minded woman bring down an imperious Chinese General in the middle of a brutal civil war? When the General's men are blindsided and mowed down by opposing forces, he hardly seems to care. Ah, the follies of star-crossed romance! **1/2 from ****
bkoganbing
Following in the same path as Paramount classics, Shanghai Express and The General Died at Dawn, The Bitter Tea Of General Yen is a remarkable film about the chaos that was Kuomintang China. And it had a theme about interracial love that was years ahead of its time. Albeit though it was a love unresolved.Barbara Stanwyck plays a missionary newly arrived from the USA with the hope of marrying missionary doctor Gavin Gordon. While trying to get some missionary orphans out of the way of war, she falls into the hands of Nils Asther playing the title role.Unlike Warner Oland in Shanghai Express or Akim Tamiroff in The General Died At Dawn, Asther is an intelligent and articulate man who expresses the Chinese view of life better than was seen on film until Curt Jurgens in The Inn Of Sixth Happiness. He also dares to love the white missionary, but she's otherwise taken with Gavin Gordon. Nevertheless Barbara finds a lot that's intriguing about Asther.There is a less than flattering view of the white people here, but not the usual criminal lowlifes who profit from war in China. It's the missionaries here with a sense of superior culture that comes in for criticism. Highly unusual and way ahead of its time for a movie theme. In fact Walter Connolly who works for Asther in procuring arms for his troops is a far better observer of the Oriental mind than any of the missionary people.There is a subplot in The Bitter Tea Of General Yen very similar to The King And I. One of Asther's many concubines is Toshia Mori who really loves one of his officers, Richard Loo. Asther reacts the same way Yul Brynner did when Tuptim found him so non-appealing, a question of vanity and pride more than of the heart.The interracial theme and the ideas way ahead of their time did not augur well for The Bitter Tea Of General Yen. I think it can be better appreciated by today's audience than the audience of 1933.
