The Bitter Tea of General Yen
| The Bitter Tea of General Yen | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Frank Capra |
| Produced by | Walter Wanger |
| Written by | Grace Zaring Stone (novel) Edward E. Paramore, Jr. (screenplay) |
| Starring | Barbara Stanwyck Nils Asther |
| Music by | W. Franke Harling |
| Cinematography | Joseph Walker |
| Editing by | Edward Curtiss |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | January 3, 1933 |
| Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Bitter Tea of General Yen is a pre-Code 1933 film, directed by Frank Capra based on the novel by Grace Zaring Stone and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Nils Asther.
The film was the first to play at the Radio City Music Hall upon its opening in January, 1933. It was one of the first movies ever to deal openly with interracial sexual attraction.[1]
Bitter Tea was a box office failure upon its release and has since been overshadowed by Capra's later efforts. In recent years, the film has grown in critical acclaim. In 2000, the film was chosen by British film critic Derek Malcolm as one of the hundred best films in The Century of Films.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Megan Davis (Barbara Stanwyck) comes to China to marry a missionary (Gavin Gordon) and help in his work. During the Chinese Civil War, Davis and her fiancé enter the war zone to rescue orphans. They become separated at a railway station, and rendered unconscious, and Davis is rescued/kidnapped by warlord General Yen (prototype of Yen Hsi-shan. Acted by Nils Asther, a white actor).
Davis awakes in Yen's summer palace. From her window, she witnesses a mass execution, ordered by General Yen. She becomes greatly upset. Yen becomes infatuated with Davis, and knowing that she is believed to be dead, keeps her in the palace. Davis finds herself subconsciously attracted to her captor (as shown in a dream sequence). Davis meets Yen's financial adviser, American self-styled renegade Jones (Walter Connolly), the general's concubine, Mah-Li (Toshia Mori), and his aide, Captain Li (Richard Loo). Jones discovers that Mah-Li has been spying for the enemy. Yen sentences her to death. Davis pleads with him to spare her. Yen realizes that Mah-Li will not change her ways, but sees this as an opportunity to "convert a missionary". He dismisses Davis' appeal to the Christian ideal of forgiveness as empty words, but accepts Davis's offer to serve as a hostage against the future conduct of Mah-Li, against Jones' advice.
When Mah-Li and Captain Li betray the location of the general's money to the enemy, his army deserts him. Realizing that she has destroyed Yen, Davis goes to him willingly, as Yen prepares to drink poisoned tea.
[edit] Cast
- Barbara Stanwyck as Megan Davis
- Nils Asther as General Yen
- Toshia Mori as Mah-Li
- Walter Connolly as Jones, Yen's chief advisor
- Gavin Gordon as Dr. Robert Strife
- Lucien Littlefield as Mr. Jacobson
- Richard Loo as Capt. Li
- Helen Jerome Eddy as Miss Reed
- Clara Blandick as Mrs. Jackson
- Emmett Corrigan as Bishop Harkness
[edit] Review
The first film to play at the Radio City Music Hall, it was scheduled for a minimum two-week run, but the theater yanked it after eight days and $80,000 in grosses, despite the certainty of a $20,000 loss on its $100,000 rental fee.[2] In his memoir, Capra proudly recalls that "it was chosen as the film to open Radio City Music Hall," omitting its less-than-glorious performance on the occasion.[3]
Barbara Stanwyck blamed its poor box-office showing on racist backlash. Miscegenation, so soon to become taboo in Hollywood, is made palatable and attractive as a natural outcome of passions molded by tumultuous times. McBride quotes her as saying, "The women’s clubs came out very strongly against it….I was so shocked. [Such a reaction] never occurred to me, and I don’t think it occurred to Mr. Capra when we were doing it."[2]
The New York Times reviewer said it was "a handsomely mounted affair with conspicuously good portrayals by Nils Asther and Walter Connolly. ... It is a story that is scarcely plausible but which has the saving grace of being fairly entertaining."[4] The one scene that everyone remembers takes place during one of Stanwyck's fevered dreams, in which she succumbs to Yen, as she imagines him as a Fu Manchu-type rapist, who then melts into a gentle, courtly suitor.[5] Mr. Asther's make-up is impressive, with slanting eyes and dark skin. He talks with a foreign accent.[6] According to Time magazine, "Stanwyck is satisfactory … but the most noteworthy female member of the cast is Toshia Mori, a sloe-eyed Japanese girl…".[7]
Bitter Tea was banned in parts of the British Empire for miscegenation and as a result lost money. When Columbia sought to reissue the film in 1950, the PCA was adamant that its characterizations of Americans and Chinese and a scene in which the heroine offered herself to the general were both "very questionable", and the film was not re-released.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ Reviewed by Lawrence O'Toole (1993-08-27). "The Bitter Tea of General Yen | Music". EW.com. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20295245,00.html. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
- ^ a b "The Bitter Tea of General Yen". Tcm.com. http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=196843&mainArticleId=196827. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
- ^ "The name above the title: an ... - Google Books". Books.google.com. 1938-08-08. http://books.google.com/books?id=x_E09IWRomMC&dq=frank+capra+The+Name+Above+The+Title&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=FiJmS_38JYr20wSMoODGBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAw. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
- ^ Hall, Mordaunt (1933-01-12). "Radio City Music Hall Shows a Melodrama of China as Its First Pictorial Attraction". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=9E01EEDC1E3BEF3ABC4A52DFB7668388629EDE.[dead link]
- ^ Brantley, Ben. "The Bitter Tea of General Yen - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - NYTimes.com". Movies.nytimes.com. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/5778/The-Bitter-Tea-of-General-Yen/overview. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
- ^ Hall, Mordaunt (1933-01-12). "Radio City Music Hall Shows a Melodrama of China as Its First Pictorial Attraction". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E01EEDC1E3BEF3ABC4A52DFB7668388629EDE.[dead link]
- ^ Monday, Jan. 23, 1933 (1933-01-23). "Cinema: The New Pictures: Jan. 23, 1933". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,744974,00.html. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
- ^ Frank Capra: authorship and the studio system. Temple University Press. 1998. p. 293. ISBN 9781566396080.
[edit] External links
- The Bitter Tea of General Yen at the Internet Movie Database
- The Bitter Tea of General Yen A page about the 1933 movie with pictures and history
- The Bitter Tea of General Yen at the TCM Movie Database
- The Bitter Tea of General Yen at AllRovi
|
|||||||||||||||||
