La locanda della 6ª felicità

A lot has been said, both positive and negative, about the main Asian roles played by Caucasian actors in this film. As an Asian of Chinese descent myself, I've learnt not to get too bent up over this, especially when one considers when this movie was made.

I just recently got the DVD and watched it for the second time after a gap of more than 20 years and I still see the magic of the movie and why it remains inspiring. There are, of course, quite a few creative licenses taken at the expense of the actual life of Gladys Aylward (which IMHO is actually much more inspiring) but that is to be expected with cinema.

What surprised me even more was that Robert Donat who played the Mandarin (the literal translation of his title in the movie would be County Governor; ie. Hsien Chang or 縣長) actually spoke better Mandarin than Peter Chong who played Yang the cook who I assume isn't a native Mandarin speaker.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt the same awe and emotions as when I first saw it as a young boy.

I show this film in my classes on leadership. Though some may find it "corny" or condescending, it is a fine and "human" portrayal of how stubbornness, faith, and a sense of justice can lead one toward great acts of courage. It's also simply an extremely interesting story. I understand that the real Gladys Aylward, on whose life the film is based, was embarrassed by the fictional "love story" portion of the film. I'm not sure why I read so many negative reactions to the film. The depictions of how Aylward inspires those around her are timeless. The three main actors, Ingrid Bergman, Robert Donat, and Kurt Jurgens, put in excellent and nuanced performances. Ms. Bergman is at her most beautiful in this film, conveying so much meaning simply with a glance. My Chinese students tend to like the film very much. Perhaps the finest scene occurs when Jen Ai (Aylward's Chinese name in the film) goes to the village to persuade the mothers to unbind their daughters' feet. So many of my students didn't even know about this cruel practice.

In the 30's, the working-class Englishwoman Gladys Aylward (Ingrid Bergman) leaves Liverpool and arrives in London, trying to join the China Missionary Society expecting to be sent to China. However, having only ordinary schooling, her request is turned down due to her lack of qualification to the position. Gladys works hard as a maid and uses all her savings and salaries to buy a train ticket to Tientsin. Then she travels by mule to the remote province of Wangcheng, where she works with the Englishwoman Jeannie Lawson (Athene Seyler) and the Chinese cook Yang (Peter Chong) in the Inn of the Sixth Happiness. When Ms. Lawson has an accident and dies, Gladys has no money to run the establishment and accepts the position of "foot inspector" offered by the Mandarin Hsien Chang (Robert Donat). She is assigned to visit the countryside to promote and enforce the government's law against foot binding Chinese girls. She is successful, changes her nationality to Chinese and her name to Jen-ai (meaning "the one who loves people"), surprising the skeptical bi-racial Captain Lin Nan (Curt Jurgens). When Wangcheng is invaded by the Japanese, Jen-ai travels through the mountains with one hundred children to save them from death.

"The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" is a wonderful and engaging epic based on the true story of the enlightened Gladys Aylward. Her biography romanticized by Hollywood is awesome, and the movie is fantastic. Ingrid Bergman is stunning in the role of a servant in a period of class struggle in London determined to go to China where she believes she belongs and has a mission from God to be accomplished. The colors and the landscapes are impressive, but the cast of Ingrid Bergman as a woman not gorgeous; Curt Jurgens as a Chinese-Caucasian; and Robert Donat as a Chinese is weird, but they have perfect performances and I believe that is what matters in a film. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "A Morada da Sexta Felicidade" ("The Inn of the Sixth Happiness")

I speak as an Asian who understands that it is not always easy to play an Asian, even if you are an Asian. And when an English person stays amongst the Asians for some time, they very rarely speak English the way they're supposed to. And that would probably explain the second half of the movie where Ingrid doesn't speak with the same strong accent, great acting, I believe!

For the Asian watching such a movie, there was very little to complain about. However, the spoken Chinese by the Chinese assistant was not always correct - but only a Chinese would have noticed that, not a Westener nor any other non-Chinese Asian.

And then there were great scenes that were screened in Wales(?). How many would have realized that it wasn't filmed in China? Not many, I am sure.

Kudos to the producer and director of The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. It was a great effort.

One can only pray that Hollywood will be able to make movies like this again!

I really liked the old hollywood feel of this movie. NO graphic sex, no graphic language just for the sake of having shock value. This movie pulled you into the characters like a great book and you wanted Gladys to succeed, yet it was not always a sure thing. She is wonderfully flawed in an average way. She has a resilent faith, that enables her to overcome truly epic conditions in a heroic manner. Everyday people with that kind of faith can be heroic. It is a wonderful movie I would love to see transferred to DVD.