China

Alan Ladd is a guy making an easy buck in the war between Japan and the Nationalist Chinese forces, selling oil products to the advancing Japanese. He has William Bendix working for him, and Bendix is a little soft in the heart, rescuing Chinese babies in bombed out cities and so forth. Then they are joined by missionary Loretta Young, who persuades Ladd against his better judgment to fill his truck with young Chinese girls and head west before the Japanese get them. But one girl jumps off the truck to go take care of her parents. It's Ladd who goes to find her, and what he sees changes his mind about this being a place to just make a buck.

Until just after the halfway mark it's a straightforward adventure, with Ladd in cynical mode. After that it turns into a propaganda piece, and this being wartime, there's one Code-breaking shot as one of the Chinese commandos drives a knife into a Japanese soldier in full view. Cameraman Leo Tover shoots it and other shots in strongly shadowed light, and shoots the sort of 'group portrait' shot that director John Farrow liked to use, when he isn't shooting the leads in close-up. It's the sort of propaganda adventure movie that the studios were making during the Second World War, and putting some strong leads in. Fortunately for the budget, you've got Ladd and Miss Young on the first card, Bendix gets his name alone n the second, and the third card has five actors, all of them Asian Americans, including Philip Ahn and Sen Yung.

During WWII, American film studios made tons of films featuring the enemy as monsters...snarling, drooling, evil monsters. Much of this is understandable....the country was at war. But many of these depictions went way overboard...so much so that the films seem very dated today. "China", unlike some of the more severe depictions of the enemy, is actually a bit more realistic. In fact, it's so realistic in spots that the film is much more brutal and frank than you'd expect from a Post-Code American picture.

The story is set in China just before the US entered the war in 1941. China, in contrast to the US, had been at war with China for about a decade...with Japan invading eastern China and in many cases eliminating the locals completely. So, when the film show the Japanese army doing ethnic cleansing, it's actually pretty realistic...ugly...but realistic. In addition, rapes and murders of civilians were common...and the film actually manages to show much more than I'd expect. I also mention this because the film CAN be hard to watch in places...especially in the portion where there is a rape and murders of a family. Because of this, it's far better than the average wartime propaganda movie.

Alan Ladd and William Bendix star as Americans who work for an oil company. This work brought them to China...and Ladd's character, in particular, seems more than willing to sell to the Japanese or Chinese. However, through the course of the story, he sees more and more of the Japanese atrocities and eventually joins the resistence wholeheartedly. Along for the ride is a missionary lady (Loretta Young).

A few things about the film could have been better. In particular, the casting was odd. Ladd was fine in his usual grumpy disaffected role, but Young and Bendix were all wrong. Young plays an American born and raised in China...and she seems as Chinese-American as a taco! Bendix isn't as bad, but he's supposed to be from Oregon...but he sure sounds like Brooklyn (though he apparently was from Manhattan).

On the positive side, the film did not shy away from things and was BRUTAL. While the rape was not shown, it was STRONGLY implied and you could hear the screams. As for the killing, much of it was in hand-to-hand combat and was amazingly harsh for 1943. I appreciate that, as too often war films make war seem fun or easy...here, there is great sacrifice and realism as a result. Overall, very well worth watching and one of Ladd's best.

This is no war propaganda but as sheer realism as could be accomplished in filming on the Apache trail of Arizona. The main asset of the film is therefore no great landscapes and interesting interiors of Chinese life but the actors and their relationships. The trio of William Bendix, Alan Ladd and Loretta Young is invincible in their glorious acting and characters, Alan Ladd and Loretta Young being at daggers drawn from the beginning but gradually being joined by the circumstances. Already the first scenes, a long shot with only William Bendix wandering at a loss among the ruins of a bombed city being under attack and ending up with a lost baby, is as impressive as if it was an Orson Welles invention. That quality is sustained throughout the film. Loretta Young will win your heart from the start, William Bendix will gain your sympathy from the beginning and increase it until the end, and Alan Ladd is at his very best, the toughest of guys but totally stoic. John Farrow made many efficient thrillers in the 40s and 50s, but I think this is his one outstanding war film. Victor Young graced it with his music, and the dialog is pertinent all the way. The suspense keeps increasing until the final crisis and climax, and then the war just continues. China had a hard time against the Japanese, the action of this film is prior to Pearl Harbour, although that incident is part of the finale, but the Chinese are depicted with great sympathy, also Chang Kai Shek. No mention of the communists - they came later.

Shortly before Pearl Harbor, American opportunist Jones and partner Johnny are in China to sell oil to the invading Japanese army. Cynical about the sufferings of the Chinese, Jones meets compassionate teacher Carolyn Grant while travelling cross-country to Shanghai. Sparks fly between these strong-willed characters, neither budging an inch. But when Jones witnesses a Japanese atrocity, his feelings toward his customers (and Carolyn) begin to change...

A very good war adventure that starts leisurely, featuring a hard-headed American who sells oil to the Japanese and doesn't care about the atrocity caused. He's played by Alan Ladd, who does a good job as the grumpy trucker. William Bendix is a much more cheerful sidekick in contrast, and cares about people and even finds a baby amidst the war torn area.

Of course, Loretta Young as a teacher helping some Chinese kids reach their destination soon thaws Ladd's heart, and that's also helped by a surprising harrowing and brutal scene where they find the baby (Bendix had found), mother and father of a girl dead, and the girl in the house with Japanese soldiers in an implied assault scene. The action scenes are rousing and can be starkly brutal. The ending is quite shocking too with a redemptive note.

Why the hate over this film? I have to disagree. Called a quickie B movie, getting as much work out of Alan Ladd as the studio could pre-stardom(?) - the site reviews go to town.

I wasn't aware that Ladd hadn't hit stardom when this film was made - that's baloney. A B movie? With that incredible opening scene and those effects? Starring Ladd, Bendix, and Loretta Young?

This is a propaganda film. Ladd plays an opportunist who sells oil to the Japanese. One night his truck is basically taken over by Young, who is a teacher, desperate to get her female students to safety.

Ladd of course winds up joining the fight after tragedy strikes. Some very exciting and sad scenes.

And yes, the Japanese are portrayed as monsters, as they are any time it is shown what they did to the Chinese people.

Young, Ladd, Bendix, Philip Ahn, and Marianne Quon give excellent performances as do the rest of the cast.

You may notice that Bendix and Ladd often worked together in films. They were best friends and neighbors.

Always interesting to see how Ladd's height is handled. Don't believe reports that he was 5'6" or 5'7". His nickname was Tiny when the average American male's height was 5'8".

Very good film, very absorbing.