7 Women (1966)

In China in 1935, seven dedicated missionary women try to protect themselves from the advances of a barbaric Mongolian warlord and his cut-throat gang of warriors.

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Janet Green (screenplay), John McCormick (screenplay)

Stars:

Anne Bancroft, Sue Lyon, Margaret Leighton

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Anne Bancroft	...	Dr. D.R. Cartwright
Sue Lyon	...	Emma Clark
Margaret Leighton	...	Agatha Andrews
Flora Robson	...	Miss Binns
Mildred Dunnock	...	Jane Argent
Betty Field	...	Florrie Pether
Anna Lee	...	Mrs. Russell
Eddie Albert	...	Charles Pether
Mike Mazurki	...	Tunga Khan
Woody Strode	...	Lean Warrior
Jane Chang	...	Miss Ling
Hans William Lee	...	Kim
H.W. Gim	...	Coolie
Irene Tsu	...	Chinese Girl

Storyline

In a mission in China in 1935, Agatha Andrews (Margaret Leighton) is a rigid missionary beset by Mongolian bandits led by Warlord chief Tunga Khan (Mike Mazurki). With her are her assistant Jane Argent (Mildred Dunnock), staff members Emma Clark (Sue Lyon), Mrs. Russell (Anna Lee), and Miss Binns (Dame Flora Robson), head of the British mission, Charles Pether (Eddie Albert), a teacher at the mission and his pregnant wife Florrie (Betty Field). When Dr. D.R. Cartwright (Anne Bancroft) arrives, she agrees to sacrifice herself to Tunga Khan in exchange for his letting the ladies go free.

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Plot Keywords:

female doctor | warlord | missionary | china | war refugee | 

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Taglines:

A Story of Flame and Fury, Faith and Fear, Love and Adventure

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

7 January 1966 (USA)

Also Known As:

Chinese Finale

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,300,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bernard Smith Productions, John Ford Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally titled "Chinese Finale" according to an MGM 40th Anniversary short.

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Goofs

The hairstyle of Dr. Cartwright is a 1960s fashion that is out of place in 1935.

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Quotes

Dr. D.R. Cartwright: What you all need is a good stiff... drink.

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Connections

Referenced in Henri Langlois: The Phantom of the Cinémathèque (2004)

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Soundtracks

Jesus Loves Me
(uncredited)
Words by Anna B. Warner and David Rutherford McGuire
Music by William B. Bradbury
Sung by Sue Lyon and the children

User Reviews

A light that goes out.....

...what a moving last picture for Ford's swansong.Too often underrated ,"Seven woman" in spite of a sometimes weak script-too many things happen in too little time- is perhaps the most modern film in Ford 's canon.

We find one of Ford's permanent features:a group of human beings in jeopardy who's got to struggle against an enemy:"Stagecoach" is the best example .Dudley Nichols's screenplay was inspired by Guy de Maupasssant's "Boule de Suif".

Women always played a prominent part in Ford's canon.Ford's world is deceptive :it seems to be a male world but actually women are the strongest and the wisest (Jane Darwell's character in "Wagon Master" ,the soldiers' wives in "Fort Appache" ).It was only natural that Ford's last movie was an all-women film (all men,including Albert's character are caricatures.) And these women are very endearing.Anne Bancroft,one of the greatest actresses America ever had, shines all along the movie ,and even when the script verges on grotesque ,she's still beaming, fascinating ,never losing her sense of humor.Even when she "becomes Chinese" ,nobody would think of laughing at her.She's so strong an actress that we seem to know her heroine intimately,her life in NYC people dispensaries,her sad love stories.With her masculine swagger,her boots ,her cigarettes and her whiskey we see a broken woman who has lost all her illusions.She's an atheist,which is very rare in Ford's canon.

Religion is in the center of many a Ford movie ."Seven Women" takes place in a mission .All these women put their faith in God and ...in America (We're American citizens!).One of them (Margaret Leighton) is particularly interesting : a tight-lipped puritan at the beginning of the movie,she becomes,slowly but inexorably ,a mystic lunatic,mentioning Babylon and sinners.Like "Stagecoach" ,"seven femmes " borrows from Maupassant.Like his heroine,"Boule De suif" Cartwright gives her life in sacrifice so the others can survive.

Six Woman are leaving Sodom under an ominous sky :one of them is screaming about lust while the blonde schoolteacher (Sue Lyon,whose role is an equivalent of Caroll Baker's in "Cheyenne Autumn ,though it's an underwritten part ),along with the newborn child, represents hope for the future:all that she went through ,her late heroine (she was the only one to be nice with Cartwright when she arrived)might help her to carry on.But Ford's last opus,like Huston's "the dead" is a very pessimistic opus.