Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Henry King

Writers:

John Patrick (screenplay)
Han Suyin (novel)

Release Date:

26 September 1955 (Sweden)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

The price they pay when they come out of their secret garden and face the world in modern-day Hong Kong - makes this one of the screen's unforgettable experiences!

Plot:

A widowed doctor of both Chinese and European descent falls in love with a married American correspondent in Hong Kong during China's Communist revolution.

Plot Keywords:

Hong Kong | Love | Doctor | Widow | Communist

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

William Holden	...	Mark Elliott
Jennifer Jones	...	Dr. Han Suyin
Torin Thatcher	...	Humphrey Palmer-Jones
Isobel Elsom	...	Adeline Palmer-Jones
Murray Matheson	...	Dr. John Keith
Virginia Gregg	...	Anne Richards
Richard Loo	...	Robert Hung
Soo Yong	...	Nora Hung
Philip Ahn	...	Third Uncle
Jorja Curtright	...	Suzanne
Donna Martell	...	Suchen, Suyin's sister

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording) (optical prints) | 4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording) (magnetic prints)

Certification:

Australia:G (DVD rating) | Netherlands:AL | West Germany:12 (f) | USA:Approved (certificate #17475) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Jennifer Jones reportedly chewed garlic cloves before her love scenes with William Holden to deter her notoriously womanizing co-star.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In the scene where Mark and Suyin tell her family that they intend to marry, as the family leaves the room, Suyin's Third Uncle calls her Suchen, which is Suyin's younger sister's name.

Quotes:

Third Uncle: We shall now have tea and speak of absurdities.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Breakfast on Pluto (2005)

Soundtrack:

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing

THEE Definition of Star Chemistry

Holden and Jones SIZZLE in this movie, but not in the way we think of sizzling today -- it's very subtle and under the surface -- yet palpable. Jennifer Jones, in particular, is SO SEXUALLY HOT in this film (much more than a caricature like Monroe EVER was) because she creates a real woman -- with ALL facets of womanhood: She's intelligent, intuitive, graceful. She's desiring AND desirable.

There's a scene on that famous hill, where she's lying down in the grass, looking up at Holden, and the expression in her eyes is X-rated, yet in the context of the scene and character, in makes complete sense. You don't need to have it all said in the dialogue -- spelled-out like the crude obviousness in most modern films. It's all there in her eyes -- sexy yet elegant. What a stunning, under-rated actress she was. (I saw her MADAME BOVARY for the first time recently and was equally blown away.) I'll take her over Bergman, Davis, or the two Hepburns any day.