Frank Capra directed partner Barbara Stanwyck in religious roles twice: as The Miracle Woman (1931), a crowd-manipulating evangelist based on Aimee Semple McPherson, and as a quiet missionary who believes herself principled, in The Bitter Tea of General Yen. Once kidnapped in Shanghai amidst the chaos of civil war, and finding herself unexpectedly drawn to General Yen, her warlord-captor, Megan Davis is turned inside out. She has come to Shanghai to marry missionary Bob Strife; but a bid to rescue orphans interrupts their wedding—perhaps eternally.
This dark, turbulent film, without trace of Capracorn, exposes the marriage between the white American Christian impulse and racism. Another white American woman warns Megan about Chinamen: “They’re all tricky, treacherous and immoral.” “You yellow swine!” is how Megan addresses Yen at one point. But when reminded of Megan’s race, General Yen—it is one of only two comedic lines in the film—replies that this doesn’t matter because he isn’t prejudiced! The film then drifts into “Beauty and the Beast,” with Yen pressing dinner invitations that Megan refuses. The “beast” arrives in a dream of Megan’s, where it breaks down her bedroom door and tries to rape her. Her fiancé rescues Megan; only, he turns out to be Yen, not Bob. The dream ends with Megan and her General making passionate love.
In waking reality, Megan withdraws her hand from his, exposing as hypocritical her professing, “We’re all of one flesh.” By the time she comes around and loves Yen (perhaps!) as deeply as he loves her, it is too late for Yen to free Megan from a pledged forfeiture of her life except by ending his own life.
Will Megan marry Bob or go home? And what’s the meaning of her Mona Lisa-smile?
This entry was posted on July 4, 2008 at 11:43 pm and is filed under Formal Capsule Film Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN (Frank Capra, 1933)
Frank Capra directed partner Barbara Stanwyck in religious roles twice: as The Miracle Woman (1931), a crowd-manipulating evangelist based on Aimee Semple McPherson, and as a quiet missionary who believes herself principled, in The Bitter Tea of General Yen. Once kidnapped in Shanghai amidst the chaos of civil war, and finding herself unexpectedly drawn to General Yen, her warlord-captor, Megan Davis is turned inside out. She has come to Shanghai to marry missionary Bob Strife; but a bid to rescue orphans interrupts their wedding—perhaps eternally.
This dark, turbulent film, without trace of Capracorn, exposes the marriage between the white American Christian impulse and racism. Another white American woman warns Megan about Chinamen: “They’re all tricky, treacherous and immoral.” “You yellow swine!” is how Megan addresses Yen at one point. But when reminded of Megan’s race, General Yen—it is one of only two comedic lines in the film—replies that this doesn’t matter because he isn’t prejudiced! The film then drifts into “Beauty and the Beast,” with Yen pressing dinner invitations that Megan refuses. The “beast” arrives in a dream of Megan’s, where it breaks down her bedroom door and tries to rape her. Her fiancé rescues Megan; only, he turns out to be Yen, not Bob. The dream ends with Megan and her General making passionate love.
In waking reality, Megan withdraws her hand from his, exposing as hypocritical her professing, “We’re all of one flesh.” By the time she comes around and loves Yen (perhaps!) as deeply as he loves her, it is too late for Yen to free Megan from a pledged forfeiture of her life except by ending his own life.
Will Megan marry Bob or go home? And what’s the meaning of her Mona Lisa-smile?
Tags: Barbara Stanwyck
This entry was posted on July 4, 2008 at 11:43 pm and is filed under Formal Capsule Film Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.