A British medical doctor fights a cholera outbreak in a small Chinese village, while also being trapped at home in a loveless marriage to an unfaithful wife.
This love story has Kitty meeting young, intelligent, shy and somewhat dull Dr. Walter Fane, whose forte is the study of infectious diseases, and the convenient marriage that she finds herself committed to. It is in this web of intrigue that they head for China, only after Walter discovers Kitty's infidelity with one dashing and witty diplomat Charlie Townsend. So much as to hide her from herself and to help thwart a cholera outbreak, this is a marriage more than on the rocks. This is a cold, indifferent and loveless partnership in a vast unknown and deadly environment that will test both these flightless lovebirds and with the hardships and tolerances more than any had ever anticipated. A visual delight amid the pain and suffering of a dying people and failing marriage. Will a cure be found for both, before it's too late?
Written by Cinema_Fan
Warner Independents and Yari Groups brought in a Chinese production company to help finance the film. The Chinese partner was granted approvals over the script and the finished film. It was concerned about the film's depiction of the uprising during the Chinese Revolution as well as the cholera's victims and asks for these contents to be reduced, something Edward Norton and John Curran disagreed upon. In the end, about 38 seconds of footage were removed.
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Goofs
Continuity:
In the scene in the orphanage where Walter kisses Kitty goodbye before he leaves for the camp, Kitty is sleeping with a child in her arms. The child is lying on his side as Walter kisses her, then a wider angle is shown and the child is all of a sudden sleeping on his back.
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Quotes
Walter Fane:
I knew when I married you that you were selfish and spoiled. But I loved you. I knew you only married me to get as far away from your mother as possible. And I hoped that one day... there'd be something more. I was wrong. You don't have it in you. Kitty Fane:
If a man hasn't what's necessary to make a woman love him then it's *his* fault not hers. Walter Fane:
Either way. Tomorrow morning we are to leave for Mei-tan-fu, or I shall file my petition. Kitty Fane:
Walter, you can't be serious about taking me into the middle of a cholera epidemic.
[...]
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"A La Claire Fontaine"
Traditional French song Vocals by N. Porebski / L. Descamps Piano by Roger Pouly Courtesy of Les Petits Minous Produced and published by AKCS
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