The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932)

A Chinese warlord and an engaged Christian missionary fall in love.

Director:

Frank Capra (as Frank R. Capra)

Writers:

Grace Zaring Stone (from the story by), Edward E. Paramore Jr. (screen play) (as Edward Paramore)

Stars:

Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther, Toshia Mori

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Barbara Stanwyck	...	Megan
Nils Asther	...	Gen. Yen
Toshia Mori	...	Mah-Li
Walter Connolly	...	Jones
Gavin Gordon	...	Bob
Lucien Littlefield	...	Mr. Jacobson
Richard Loo	...	Capt. Li
Helen Jerome Eddy	...	Miss Reed
Emmett Corrigan	...	Bishop Harkness

Storyline

The American missionary Megan Davis arrives in Shanghai during the Chinese Civil War to marry the missionary Dr. Robert Strife. However, Robert postpones their wedding to rescue some orphans in an orphanage in Chapei section that is burning in the middle of a battlefield. While returning to Shanghai with the children, they are separated in the crowd, Megan is hit in the head and knocked out, but is saved by General Yen and brought by train to his palace. As the days go by, the General's mistress Mah-Li becomes close to Megan and when she is accused of betrayal for giving classified information to the enemies, Megan asks for her life. The cruel General Yen falls in love for the naive and pure Megan and accepts her request to spare the life of Mah-Li against the will of his financial advisor Jones. Meanwhile Megan feels attracted by the powerful and gentle General Yen, but resists to his flirtation. When Mah-Li betrays General Yen and destroys his empire, Megan realizes that to be able ...

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Plot Keywords:

car accident | card game | chapei shanghai | flower | shanghai china | 

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Taglines:

The flaming drama of a forbidden love that wrecked an empire!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Mandarin French

Release Date:

6 January 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

La amargura del general Yen

Filming Locations:

San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Swedish actor Nils Asther played Gen. Yen. Asian actors were never cast in lead roles in American productions at the time. Although multilingual, Asther did not speak Mandarin. However, he did use a Mandarin dialect for the part.

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Quotes

Megan Davis: But I can't understand it. The owner of the car looked so civilized. I wonder who he was?
Mrs. Jackson: Some rich merchant. Taking refuge in the Settlement. But don't be fooled about his looking civilized. They're all tricky, treacherous and immoral. I can't tell one from another. They're all Chinamen to me.

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Connections

Referenced in Biography: Barbara Stanwyck: Straight Down the Line (1997)

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Soundtracks

Onward Christian Soldiers
(1871) (uncredited)
Music from "St. Gertrude" by Arthur Sullivan (1871)
Lyrics by Sabine Baring-Gould (1865)
Sung by an unidentified quartet at the wedding

User Reviews

Despite the usual horrible casting, this is a very good film!

Years ago I tried watching it off part-way through the film because I thought that the casting of Nils Asther as "General Yen" was ridiculous and rather insensitive since he looks about as Chinese as Nipsy Russell. However, on a second viewing I found that the movie STILL had a lot going for it. Plus, like it or not, casting Westerners in leading roles of Asian characters was the norm in the 1930s and 40s--there's no getting past this with only a very few exceptions.

What did I like about the film? Well, first off, despite being made in Hollywood, Columbia did an exceptional job in getting the look correct. Very impressive sets, costumes and convincing battle scenes all indicate that this was a top project for a studio which, at the time, was definitely a second-tier company. Heck, MGM and Warner would have been proud to make a movie that looked this good--and they were the "big money" studios. It certainly was a pretty film to look at and lovely cinematography sure helped as well.

Second, while the movie has some silly stereotypes, in a way it is also very modern compared to other pictures of the day. It dares to consider the possibility of interracial love (something banned when the new Production Code was put in place the following year) and despite initially come off as a demon, General Yen was quite decent and civilized in his own manner. He definitely was NOT some one-dimensional Asian caricature--having greater depth than you'd usually find in non-White characters of the day.

Finally, while odd and fully of bizarre twists, the plot really was pretty exciting and romantic. I especially loved the silly but majorly cool dream that Barbara Stanwyck had soon after Yen took her into protective custody! So, if you are looking for an unusual, pretty and very interesting film from Hollywood's golden era, then look no further. This is quite an unusual film and you won't soon forget it.

By the way, after watching this film, try SHANGHAI EXPRESS. While many of the plot elements are similar, notice how different Warner Oland's Chinese warlord character differs from Nils Asther's---there is quite the contrast.