The World of Suzie Wong

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.

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.

"The World of Suzie Wong" was the second film in which William Holden plays an American who travels to Hong Kong and falls in love with a local girl; the first was "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" from five years earlier. The differences between the two films perhaps illustrate the way in which society was gradually changing as the fifties gave way to the sixties. In the earlier films the two principal characters, Mark Elliot and Han Suyin, are both middle-class professionals in their thirties. A film telling the story of their romance would therefore have been entirely uncontroversial were it not for the fact that Suyin is of mixed race, something which in 1955 was enough to make the film seem daringly controversial. (To soften the blow somewhat the character was played by a white actress, Jennifer Jones).

Here Holden plays Robert Lomax, a middle-aged American architect who gives up his job and moves to Hong Kong in order to pursue his ambition to become a painter. (In Richard Mason's original novel, Lomax was British and considerably younger than the character portrayed here). His love interest is Mee Ling, alias Suzie Wong, a twenty-year-old prostitute from the notorious Wan Chai district. Unlike Han Suyin, Suzie is supposed to be of pure Chinese blood, although a mixed-race actress, Nancy Kwan, was cast in the role. The film deals with the problems posed to their relationship not only by differences in nationality but also by issues not explored in "Love is a Many Splendored Thing", namely differences in age, in social class and (most importantly) outlook.

This was Nancy Kwan's first film, and she makes a ravishingly beautiful and tender heroine. (She was only the second choice for the role, the first choice, France Nuyen, having been sacked, allegedly for putting on too much weight). Her inexperience as an actress does tend to show, but this did not prevent her from going on to become the second major Hollywood star of Chinese descent after Anna May Wong. Holden is better here than he was in "Love is a Many Splendored Thing", in which he made a rather uncharismatic hero.

The film was of course highly controversial in 1960, and remains so today, although for different reasons. We may no longer raise an eyebrow at films about prostitution or white-man-and-Asian-girl love stories, even if Hollywood prefers to steer clear of some other racial combinations, notably black-man-and-white-girl. "The World of Suzie Wong" has, however, been criticised for allegedly perpetuating the racist stereotype of the meek, submissive Oriental woman.

This is not, however, a criticism I would accept. To point out, as this film does, that some women in poor countries- and Hong Kong certainly counted as such in 1960- regard the idea of becoming the wife or mistress of a wealthy foreigner as the best way out of poverty is not a patronising racist stereotype but a regrettable statement of the economic facts of life. (For a time Suzie becomes the mistress of Ben Marlowe, a married British colonial official). Suzie does not act submissively because she is submissive by nature, but because she has been forced into prostitution by economic circumstances and because her clients expect submission from her. Much of the film's psychological drama arises from the efforts of the rather moralistic Lomax to realise this, and Suzie's efforts to realise that he is not just another Ben Marlowe, that he genuinely loves her and that she does not need to put on her submissive act with him. There have been "tart with a heart" films which have taken a much more patronising view of their heroines, but because these heroines have generally been white the films have not been criticised in the same way.

The film also gives us an interesting picture of Hong Kong at a key moment in its history. Before and immediately after the war it had been regarded as something of a backwater, and had the Nationalists won the Chinese Civil War it would doubtless have been returned to China much earlier. The Communist seizure of power, however, gave it a much greater strategic and economic importance to the West, and its population was boosted by the stream of refugees from Mao's regime, a stream which by 1960 had become a flood owing to political repression on the mainland and the famines which followed the so-called "Great Leap Forward". In the long run, of course, it was the entrepreneurial skills brought by these refugees which were to be responsible for Hong Kong's transformation into a dynamic, prosperous trading centre, but in the short run they added to the city's problems of poverty and overcrowding, shown in this film by the shanty-town in which Suzie is forced to live.

Much of the interest of "The World of Suzie Wong" is today historical, although it is still highly watchable as a moving love story between two people of very different backgrounds. It is more than a "tart with a heart" melodrama. It also has some pertinent points to make about colonialism and sexual exploitation. Although few colonies still remain, what it has to say on the latter subject is perhaps even more pertinent today than it was in the colonial era of fifty years ago. Then only a few colonial officials, businessmen and wealthy travellers could exploit women in this way; today the internet and cheap air travel have placed "sex tourism" and "mail-order brides" within the reach of many more. 7/10

I remember watching this movie years ago on TV one night and absolutely being mesmerized by the lovely Nancy Kwan..When I noticed it was available on DVD I rented it one evening and was again totally captivated by Nancy..Back in the sixties, Nancy Kwan was the biggest Asian star around! She made her debut in this lavishly filmed production and what a debut! She exudes an incredible amount of sex appeal yet there is an innocence about her that is very charming in this film! I've read that this film was criticized for negative portrayals of asians....but if you just look within the context of the story, I think it's a powerful love story..which is what it was meant to be! The locales are fantastic..William Holden is wonderful and the supporting cast is full of colorful characters!

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