The Bitter Tea of General Yen

Unusual, strange, interesting, intriguing, offbeat, surreal, unique film… so atypical of Capra's acknowledged style, that one truly regrets that he never made a film of this sort afterwards in his career.

For sure, a product of the more permissive Pre-Code era (1930-1934), it couldn't have been filmed under the Production Code's strict rules; the only suggestion of miscegenation would have risen too many brows during its enforcement.

I must say, though, that I have the impression that I saw an edited or censored version of the official release, since the DVD I watched is of British origin (it's not yet available on DVD in the USA) and apparently the out-of-print VHS American edition, is 5 or 6 minutes longer. Well, it shouldn't surprise me since this film was banned in England for many years (reportedly for its miscegenation subject, a delicate matter for the British Empire in those years).

This fantastic tale of a Chinese Warlord's (Nils Asther) infatuation with an American Woman (Stanwyck), who's engaged to a missionary, is charged with sensuality, erotic imagery and sexual tension (by early 1930s standards) between the two leading players.

Asther gives an intense, credible portrayal and is simply mesmerizing as the Warlord, in spite of the fact that he was actually Swedish. Stanwyck is aptly helpless, confused and vulnerable as the heroine. It's also a pleasure to see Walter Connolly in a different role, as an amoral "entrepreneur". Toshia Mori is deliciously evil as Asther's double-crossing mistress.

This film demonstrates that the Occidentals, at least up to that time, still did not fully appreciate and understand Oriental Cultures, dismissing its people as cruel and savage.

Beautiful sets and décors.

A year before his major breakthrough film It Happened One Night director Frank Capra made this romantic tragedy that is filled with provocative topic and outstanding set design sensually photographed by master cinematographer Joseph Walker.

Megan Davis (Barbara Stanwyck) arrives in China in the middle of a civil war to marry her missionary husband Dr. Robert Strike and then work alongside him. Before they even marry they are separated during an evacuation and Davis finds herself in the hands of warlord General Yen (Nils Asther) . Yen at first mocks Davis but soon finds himself falling heavily for her.

The Bitter Tea of General Yen is filled with characters making bad decisions. Davis and Strike are nearly killed due to their naive condescension and trusting Megan is betrayed twice by her maid with huge consequence. General Yen cold and cruel as he may be also succumbs in his case to incurable romanticism. Only Jones (Walter Connolly) the arms dealer is grounded in reality to the dire situation that faces them.

Director Capra ably provides scenes of both chaos ( refugee evacuations, night battles ) and tranquility in the idyllic setting of Yen's compound palace where the General sets about seducing Megan with delicate charm while firing squads outside in the courtyard dispatch his enemy. Capra also finds time to get some satiric shots in at Western superiority and hypocrisy but it is the sexual tension between the leads that is at the center of Yen.

Megan's ambiguity is excellently conveyed by Stanwyck's actions and immature responses to the different world she finds herself. She's totally out of her element and her western ways are constantly checkmated by Yen. As Yen, Nils Asther cuts a dashing figure as the highly cultured warlord. He's cruel by occupation but sensitive in nature, especially around women as Jones informs us and it ultimately brings about his ruin. His scenes with Stanwyck resonate with cultural clash and erotic implication and Capra ups the ante even further with a Freudian dream that Megan has.

Capra went on to make more famous and bigger films but he would never approach the eroticism or cynicism that this provocative thirties work offered causing me to wonder if success took some of the edge out of him..

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.

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.

Obviously a pre-code film since the subject of attraction between a white woman and an Asian man would be a taboo one for many years once the production code went into effect just after this film was released. Capra creates a mood piece with some compelling and strange imagery helped greatly by the excellent performances of the stars. The film is driven by Barbara Stanwyck, Capra's favorite leading lady and here it is easy to see why, she always delivered intense real work. Nils Asther is all but forgotten today but he really registers with a multifaceted performance. Considering the times in which it was made there may be portrayals which jar a modern viewer but if you are willing to take that into account this is quite an unusual picture.