El mundo de Suzie Wong

Long before "Pretty Woman", "Maid in Manhattan" and "In the Mood For Love" were dreamed up, we have this beautiful film from the fifties which is the meatiest of them all.

True the film is a bit long, but this does not detract from the general impression it gives to the spectator.

The dialogues are sublime, the technicolor is wonderful and both protagonists are very beaufiful actors. I saw this on TV and would dearly love to have it on DVD ( chance would be a fine thing !!! ) to have a better sound quality for the dialogues.

For pure unadulterated romance and passion, this film is hard to beat. One gets the impression that it was rather ahead of its time when it came out.

Lastly, those frightening landslide sequences close to the end are really impressive, and the "baby's funeral" also leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

A truly magnificent film, seemingly little known today, and which would gain from being made better known to the general public .......

The setting is Hong Kong in the late fifties…

The film tells the story of a bittersweet love affair between an American architect who has decided to try painting and a wonderful Asian girl who uses with vigor and diligence her essentially dirty trade in a turmoil of mischievous fantasy…

Suzie Wong (Nancy Kwan), attracted to Robert Lomax (Holden), offers to be his "steady girlfriend," but a world-weary Lomax informs her that he has had enough of love and wants only to paint…

Paint he does, and the irresistible hooker, appointed as a model, appears in his work in a variety of poses… A compassionate Lomax suddenly realizes he loves her and takes her as his mistress…

There are comic moments in Richard Quine's movie concerning the lies Suzie relates to win the respect of her prostitute friends and her drunken admirer, Ben (Michael Wilding).

Nancy Kwan in her film's debut displays a large range of feelings, alternating hardness, affection, and affinity

Today there are many "chick flicks." The World of Suzie Wong is the quintessential "romance for guys."

There are two parallel themes in this film: 1) the "Pygmalion" theme, which was old when George Bernard Shaw's play first appeared in 1913. Pygmalion, in classical legend, was the king of Cyprus who fell in love with his own sculpture. Hence the theme of beginning with a raw material (in this case a woman of no great position or education) and to some degree transforming her into she whom you might adore.

Some may object to this theme carrying racist overtones, but in my view the reverse is true. The very fact that in this type of romantic union the protagonists are of unequal social position means that the man is attracted to the woman because of her human qualities, not because of any advantage she can provide to him in terms of social status or wealth. In fact, a man who loves such a woman is often looked down upon socially, which is present in this story. The object of Robert Lomax's love is Susie Wong for who she is as a woman and how she makes him feel, and he gladly, even cynically disregards the disparagements of those who do not approve.

2) Theme number two is the enchantment of the East. This is magic stuff for those so smitten, and once smitten, these is no cure. In this way, this wonderful story (novel and film) is understated. It is barely believable that Lomax's attraction to Suzie would start from nothing and grow so slowly to compelling strength. This mixture of desire and fascination is more likely to stormily seize a man's heart, but "Robert meets Suzie-falls crazy in love-marries Suzie" would make for a ten-minute film, and that just wouldn't do, would it?

It's also an interesting commentary on the film makers of the fifties that when they wanted to tell the story of interracial romance they had to attenuate the effect. Both Nancy Kwan and France Nguyen (in South Pacific) were of mixed parentage.

When a guy with Quixotic romantic notions (which Lomax clearly has, or he would not be in Hong Kong trying to paint professionally) beholds the lovlieness of a Nancy Kwan in those subtle, but oh, so sexy silk dresses (cheongsam in Cantonese, Qipao [shee pow] in Mandarin), he sees a vision of feminine loveliness he thought could only exist in the Platonic realm of the form. He sees perfection. He is enchanted. There is no cure save to have this woman for his own or death. This enchantment your humble correspondent knows first-hand, and therefore connects deeply with Robert and Suzie.

The World of Suzie Wong is so very romantic, and the themes explored here are enduring. I love the novel -- I love the film. I can't imagine anyone but William Holden playing Lomax. This role belongs to he.

There was a time when late night TV meant Johnny Carson and a cloud of dust, the other two networks scrambling locally with ‘Million Dollar Movie' packages. It was a time when broad appeal movies like `The World of Suzie Wong' flourished on TV-start with a basic romance, add exotic settings and just a hint of comedy.

William Holden was never more a leading man than in this film. Take all the dynamic sex appeal he exudes in Network, and turn the clock back some 15 years. He is commanding.

This quirky little comedy hits all the right spots, with Nancy Kwan absolutely stunning as the Won-Tsai Girl, Suzie. Beautiful Hong Kong landscapes are just the cherry on top of this sweet deal.

American William Holden, as former architect turned struggling artist, Robert Lomax, a cynic who's "pushing forty," arrives in 1960 Hong Kong to make a valiant effort for his art. He's never been there and has no idea what to expect. On the ferry boat to Kowloon, he has a sort of altercation with the very young & attractive Nancy Kwan, who claims to be named "Mei Li," a very proper young lady about to enter into an arranged marriage set up by her wealthy father. Shortly before reluctantly introducing herself, she also almost manages to have Robert arrested by claiming he's a purse snatcher, which, judging from her mirthful expression, she does for the sheer entertainment value of the situation.

Robert, completely lost and not particularly wealthy, soon makes his way to the Wan Chai district, and, in his naivete as American abroad, fails to realize he's entered the main prostitution district in the city. His journey to the seedy hotel where he sets up shop as artist would be one of the highlights of the film: Robert's amazement and confusion at the bustling, vibrant city that has become his new home come across nicely. In many ways, the brilliant cinematography and camera work turn the city of Hong Kong itself into the unacknowledged third star of the film. However, it's a very different Hong Kong than now: very much a British colonial post, and, in segments of the neighborhoods, almost a Third World city.

Unfortunately, once Robert reaches the hotel, the movie loses much realism, and we've plainly entered a 1950's Hollywood set version of Hong Kong, complete with cartoonish prostitutes and Brit sailors on leave. It turns out that prim-and-proper Mei Li's none other than "very popular" Wan Chai "girl" Suzie Wong. There are some very dated scenes that follow, although actress Jacqui Chan's charming in an off kilter way as bar girl Gwennie Lee. Nancy Kwan vamps and spouts much pidgin English and says "for goodness' sake" about 500 times in a row. Fortunately, Robert, Suzie, and the camera eventually hit the streets of actual Hong Kong again.

Then, something odd happens with this film, bit by bit. The movie focuses more and more on Robert and Suzie as a couple, and, bit by bit, Suzie becomes less of a stereotypical bar girl and more and more of a human being who behaves unexpectedly. It turns out that she has developed a persona for herself, a very manipulative, successful one, that's given her an edge in a very harsh city for abandoned young women. She has an active fantasy life, that's enabled her to separate herself psychologically from the more sordid aspects of what she's done in order to survive. Robert too, becomes less and less Joe Gillis, Jr. (for those of you who've seen Holden in SUNSET BLVD. from a decade earlier), a one-note, crabby cynic with a paternalistic attitude towards Suzie, and more and more a human being who's in love. He shows this most plainly when he finds out that Suzie has an infant son, and Robert accepts little Winston affectionately as his own. In a complex way, Suzie, and also little Winston, act as muses for Robert, and his own art becomes more inspired and interesting because of them. Suzie also benefits from her love for Robert and shows some real emotion for him rather than her usual play acting.

This is where I find the movie interesting, as it depicts, much more realistically than one might expect in 1960, the dimensions of a biracial, bicultural couple's life together. Although Robert has made contact with the British elite in the city and needs them for patronage for his art, he's never really comfortable with them or their patronizing, mildly racist way of observing the Chinese. Kay O'Neill (actress Sylvia Syms), the daughter of a well-placed British banker, falls for Robert, but he doesn't really feel any emotion for her as he does for Suzie. Of course, she can't believe Robert would really prefer Suzie to her. When he announces he's thinking of marrying Suzie, Kay's father says that, of course, he could never hire someone in those circumstances. The rest of the Brits more talk around Suzie than to her whenever she's present. Likewise, most of the Chinese, while polite with Robert, don't know quite what to make of him, either, and he seems to do better either with Suzie as intermediary or because her friends help him along. It's obvious too that sometimes cultural miscues cause Suzie and Robert to misunderstand one another. This leads to the beginning of the climax of the film, which is somewhat tragic.

No doubt, this has been a controversial film. In the past, many Asian-American studies professors seemed to grow livid at the mention of it. This was supposed to be the ne plus ultra (or maybe the nadir, instead) for stereotypical portrayals of all Asian women as submissive little China doll characters or bar girls. There is some of that there (although much less than in most other 1950's-early 1960's American films), but, as I'd noted, the interesting thing's how the stereotype turns out to be a fake, something created for the advantage (if that's the word) of the heroine for relating to foreigners. It's also interesting how the genuine romance, one based on a sort of mutual respect between Robert and Suzie, becomes more important. Most interesting of all's the portrayal (that mostly rings true) of a biracial, bicultural romance between two human beings. As someone involved in such a relationship for many years, I found myself giving the film an extra star for this "rightness" alone.

Plus, if nothing else, this movie's a terrific time capsule/travelogue of Hong Kong, as it was never so brilliantly captured elsewhere on screen in that era.