The Bitter Tea of General Yen

Bitter Tea is one of my favourite Capra films, the earliest one I would call that "much over-worked phrase", a classic. I don't know if the original story was much different, but even being pre-Code this film would be shot much differently nowadays - unfortunately, of course! It appears to be just as hung up about love between the races as any other Golden Age movie was, except the tale's conclusion is more open to interpretation and franker in its portrayal. But even that was spoiled by Walter Connolly's Jerry Springer type moral ramblings at the end as solace for any outraged whites.

It's a murky, atmospheric, lustrous (in the romantic arc-light), absorbing 83 minute journey through a rather horrible world, populated by semi human beings - naturally Western wars are so much more civilised affairs. Throughout Stanwyck does her best and looks her best too, no wonder Gen Yen fell for her! I hope modern Scandanavians don't feel too humiliated by Nils Asther playing a Chinaman though (& v.v.) As a non practising Christian I didn't take offence at the criticism levelled at Christianity's manifold moral ambiguities - but enough of all that!

A wonderful film to sink into every few years not only for the story but also the gleaming photography, the visual composition of the scene near the end where Yen is brewing the tea of the title is so achingly beautiful that it brings the tears to my eyes as I think about it! But remember it was made in 1932 so if you don't like shiny charming creakers it's probably not your cup of tea.

Barbara Stanwyck and Nils Asther star in "The Bitter Tea of General Yen," a 1933 film also starring Walter Connelly and Toshia Mori.

Stanwyck plays missionary Megan Davis who comes to China during their civil war in order to marry another missionary, Dr. Strike (Gavin Gordon). Before they can be married, they have to save orphans left in an orphanage some distance from Snanghai. While there, the couple get separated, and Megan ends up a guest of a General Yen, whom she had actually met earlier. She also meets his mistress, Mah-Li (Mori), with whom she becomes close. General Yen is attracted to Megan, and she to him -- both attracted and repelled -- and when Mah-Li is accused of selling secrets to the enemy, Megan begs that her life be spared.

This is such an unusual film for Frank Capra, and such an unusual film, period. It was banned in England because of miscegenation, even though the main characters are actually played by white people, Nils Asther being Swedish. This is precode, and the Hayes code really clamped down in the U.S. Anna May Wong was problematic casting for The Good Earth and Dragon Seed, and therefore wasn't cast, because she could not appear opposite a white man. Featuring an interracial couple, even if they were playing the same race, likely would mean the movie would be rejected by many theater chains in regions in which anti-Asian prejudice was particularly severe. The new Motion Picture Production Code of 1934, pandering to segregationists, forbade filmmakers from portraying miscegenation in a positive light. Casting a Chinese-American opposite a Caucasian might be construed as promoting miscegenation.

The film is very atmospheric, sexually charged, and beautifully acted by the leads. It was particularly a tour de force for Asther, though his career eventually fizzled. Walter Connelly plays a different kind of character, a tough American siding with General Yen.

Well worth seeing for its place in history as well as for Stanwyck and Asther.

Following in the same path as Paramount classics, Shanghai Express and The General Died at Dawn, The Bitter Tea Of General Yen is a remarkable film about the chaos that was Kuomintang China. And it had a theme about interracial love that was years ahead of its time. Albeit though it was a love unresolved.

Barbara Stanwyck plays a missionary newly arrived from the USA with the hope of marrying missionary doctor Gavin Gordon. While trying to get some missionary orphans out of the way of war, she falls into the hands of Nils Asther playing the title role.

Unlike Warner Oland in Shanghai Express or Akim Tamiroff in The General Died At Dawn, Asther is an intelligent and articulate man who expresses the Chinese view of life better than was seen on film until Curt Jurgens in The Inn Of Sixth Happiness. He also dares to love the white missionary, but she's otherwise taken with Gavin Gordon. Nevertheless Barbara finds a lot that's intriguing about Asther.

There is a less than flattering view of the white people here, but not the usual criminal lowlifes who profit from war in China. It's the missionaries here with a sense of superior culture that comes in for criticism. Highly unusual and way ahead of its time for a movie theme. In fact Walter Connolly who works for Asther in procuring arms for his troops is a far better observer of the Oriental mind than any of the missionary people.

There is a subplot in The Bitter Tea Of General Yen very similar to The King And I. One of Asther's many concubines is Toshia Mori who really loves one of his officers, Richard Loo. Asther reacts the same way Yul Brynner did when Tuptim found him so non-appealing, a question of vanity and pride more than of the heart.

The interracial theme and the ideas way ahead of their time did not augur well for The Bitter Tea Of General Yen. I think it can be better appreciated by today's audience than the audience of 1933.

Above average classic film about a group of Europeans who suffer mayhem and chaos through the China wars. Subtly radiant Megan Davis (Barbara Stanwyck of Ball of Fire), a young American, arrives in Shanghai during the threatening Chinese Civil War in order to marry a missionary, Robert Strike (Gavin Gordon). While escaping war-torn China, unexpectedly swept into the arms of an infamous warlord, she is separated from her fiancé and rescued by General Yen (Nils Ashter). Megan becomes both fascinated and repelled by the prospect of miscegenation, although his attempts to seduce her fail. Megan even remains with him while his enemies close in. At his palace, she defends Mah-Li (Toshia Mori) , Yen's mistress, who is suspected of giving secrets to the enemy. Idealistic Megan offers to answer for Mah-Li's actions if her life is spared. Yen knows that Mah-Li will not change, but, motivated by a calm, fatalistic philosophy, and by a growing love for Megan, he agrees. Their Forbidden Love Wrecked an Empire!. The flaming drama of a forbidden love that wrecked an empire!. She came to save souls and nearly lost her own!. A man of the East.... A woman of the Wests.....They dared not share their one desire. They found a love they dared not touch!

This erotic, passionate drama, pre-Hays Code -adapted from the book by Grace Zaring Stone- is by far his finest achievement. It's a decent film, although it can be a bit slow at times, despite its short duration, it only lasts 88 minutes, which is appreciated, because the events that occur are not too many. There is a peculiar circumstance that at the beginning of the film it bears a remarkable resemblance to the start of the movie¨Lost Horizon (1937)¨, in which the characters, while escaping, find themselves immersed in the hustle and bustle, crowds and violence of the Chinese rebellion.

Exotic and poetic, if melodramatic by today's standards. The interracial aspects were deemed very daring for their time. Where Capra's other movies are largely stolid, talky and prosaic, this is sensuous and profoundly cinematic, perhaps most notably in a sequence in which Stanwyck dreams of her seduction by a forceful Asther. There are good performances by the leading duo, the great Barbara Stanwyck and the unknown Nils Asther as the highly sophisticated chinese warlord, along with the classic american secondary actor Walter Connolly, Gavin Gordon and the chinese actress Toshia Mori as Mah-Li. Apart from these, there are no other actors in the film, so more action and more characters are missed.

This engrossing and moving film was competently and originally directed by Frank Capra. It is one of the most unclassifiable rarities of Capra's filmography, as well as one of Francis Ford Coppola's favorite films . The picture was a box office failure due to the scabrous representation of mixed race for the time, (in fact it was banned in the USA until 1967). Today, however, it is considered a hidden masterpiece, being one of the first American films in which an interracial love relationship is addressed. Frank Capra is deemed to be one of the best filmmakers in American cinema; always accompanied by his usual screenwriter and collaborator Robert Riskin, Frank directed seven Academy Award Best Picture nominees: Lady for a Day (1933), It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Lost Horizon (1937) that won the Oscar for best production design and best editing, You Can't Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946). It Happened One Night and You Can't Take It with You both won Best Picture. Rating The Bitter Tea of General Yen(1932): 6.5/10. Better than average. An odd film, but oddly stirring. Especially recommended to classic film enthusiasts.

This film was made before Hollywood strengthened the censorship code. The sexual chemistry between Barbara Stanwyck and Nils Asther really amazed me! Director Frank Capra filled his story with strong overtones and suggestive dialogue. Very entertaining.