Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)

"A lot of hooey,"

says Jones (Walter Connolly) in the last scene of this movie. That about sums it up. Somewhat below average. Barbara Stanwyck wasn't below average. She never is. She is practicing acting as the beautiful, virginal, (if somwhat gullible) missionary Megan Davis. She's about to be married in China to another missionary. There is a riot & she is rescued or kidnaped depending on your point of view by General Yen. He is basically a ruthless criminal played by Nils Asher. Apparently there were no Asian actors in Hollywood in 1933. He falls in love with Megan immediately. But it is unrequited. She is conflicted & may be falling for him. He is very charming. Those look like real tears streaming down Megan's cheek in one close-up. For our time, it's a bit racist. The Chinese are refered to as devils, yellow swine & Orientials. They are looked down at by European diplomats as they are cheated & then converted. I'm glad I saw this movie but I wouldn't sit through it twice. April 11, 2007

Must be seen

This extraordinary film, way ahead of its time, provides unforgettable viewing. The story is unlike anything that came out of Hollywood ever, and this was 1933! Barbara Stanwyck plays a missionary's wife who is captured by a Chinese warlord, played by Nils Asther. The film explores the clash of the cultures as the western and narrow minded Stanwyck learns to understand the oriental Asther.

In Frank Capra annals, it is a unique, so different to the sentimental comedies in which he later specialised. Capra was trying for an Oscar as best picture but the film was too off beat to have wide appeal and it was not a box office success. It has a dream/nightmare quality and spectacular soft focus photography. Nils Asther is inscrutable and completely convincing. Barbara Stanwyck displays her unusual naturalism and is very moving. The juxtaposition of her realistic persona to his exotic one makes their relationship unforgettable. The last few minutes of the film are incredibly powerful. You will never forget the closing shot.

This was the last of 4 films which Stanwyck made with Capra at Columbia. This is one film which could still blow away a modern audience. It should be revived and shown publicly. It is time that the Stanwyck/Capra collaboration was celebrated in a suitable DVD set. All the films are unique and worthy of revival, although this one is probably the greatest. February 10, 2006

I Know I'm The Minority Here...

The Bitter Tea of General Yen is the story of a rebel Chinese (Nils Asther) who takes in a Catholic woman (Barbara Stanwyck) when she is knocked out in a large crowd during a panic in the Chinese Civil War. She is presumed dead by her family and the general will not let her escape. She strangely falls in love with him, but the two are very different people, brought up in completely different cultures.

The love story between the two is incredibly hard to detect because it is so microscopic. As a result, the rest of the story is a bit confusing and the events parade on with no real aim.

However, despite the shaky story, the visuals are incredible. The photography is excellent and it is obvious that the sets and costume designs were well thought out. There are also some artistic visuals used including the dream sequence later used more extensively in film noir and suspense films. Barbara Stanwyck looks amazing here; she is very young and delicate in this film. Nils Asther is hardly recognizable as General Yen; his makeup truly makes him look believably Asian. January 13, 2006

Stanwyck and Capra outdo themselves

This was the first film to open at Radio City Music Hall in 1933, and it was so far ahead of its time it was a popular failure. It will probably remind of you nothing like Frank Capra's later films, but it's probably his most lyrical and sensitive work--there's no question that it's a masterpiece. Set in China during the "warlord period" of the late 20s and early 30s, the film concerns the strange abduction of a New England missionary (played by Barbara Stanwyck) and a cruel but highly cultured Chinese general (played by a Nils Asther, of all people, a Scandinavian). As the general tries to woo the missionary, her conflicted feelings for him come to the forefront--while all the while the warlord's political fortunes begin to crumble.

Stanwyck was never so subtle as she is here--she plays Megan as moral, tender, and conflicted, but not in the least bit prissy (she is that rarest of creatures, a genuinely virtuous woman). As Asther manages to breathe real depth into what could have otherwise been a racial caricature: although the film still wince-inducingly reminds us, at times, that it is a product of its period in some ways (as in its depiction of the treacherous Mah-Li), nonetheless it confronts head-on the racist stereotypes of white colonialists in China. The final scene between the two leads is absolutely stunning--you won't be prepared for where the film takes the characters, and yet in a strange way it all makes a wondrous kind of dream-like sense. Do yourself a favor and watch this film--it's really one-of-a-kind. February 17, 2003

A very different Frank Capra film...

Frank Capra's groundbreaking story of an interracial romance between a Catholic missionary in wartorn China (played by a gorgeous young Barbara Stanwyck) and a cruel, haughty Chinese warlord, played -- in the style of the time -- by a white guy. It's a very unusual film, and much different than most other Capra classics. To begin with, the story takes place outside of the director's usual Middle-America tromping grounds, and his dramatizations of the bloodshed and chaos taking place in Asia are pretty amazing... Hard-hitting stuff for a still-isolationist nation to sit through, but material Capra would sucessfully revisit in his WWII propaganda films. The main story, though, is about two people struggling to bridge a deep racial divide -- although the film is rife with sterotypes, Capra clearly meant to project a progressive image onto his characters. It may be a little difficult for modern audiences to passively sit through some of the dialogue, but the film's still a fascinating snapshot of its times, worth considering on a variety of levels. The cinematography and set design are also both quite stunning. December 20, 2002

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