The Son-Daughter

In the Chinatown of 1911 in San Francisco, the specter of political upheaval casts a shadow over two lovers.

Helen Hayes and Ramon Navarro play Lien Wha and Tom Lee, whose ever-so-polite courtship advances haltingly under the watchful eyes of Lien's father, Dr. Tong (Lewis Stone, perfectly underplaying his role). In a world of wind chimes, flowers and birds singing, Lien Wha inhabits a world very different from the street below. Furtive shadows hide blade wielding hatchet men routinely "dispatching" self-described patriots disloyal to the repressive Chinese Emperor. It is to these patriots that Dr. Tong places his loyalty, and a $100,000 tribute for smugglers becomes crucial to save the repressed homelanders. Tong reveals to his daughter his unfulfilled wish to have had a son to send to fight for his people, and Lien pledges herself to be the son he lacks, she'll be his son-daughter.

Director Clarence Brown unfolds his drama in settings that are among MGM's best. Using complex lighting arrangements and crane shots, the director injects dread most effectively. The violence is quick and strong, definately pre-code. And if you're familiar with the portrayal of Chinese in America up to the sixties, you will forgive performances which play today as over the top. Indeed, during the final reel, you'll discover why Hayes was a great choice for the lead.

A great film for adults, and a must-see for students of great photography.

Since no one in the cast of The Son-Daughter is Chinese, it's easy to imagine the story being transported to a different culture and environment. The basic story still works, so I don't know why they made everyone pretend to be Chinese in the first place. A young couple is in love, but because of propriety, respect for their families, and a duty to problems greater to their own leads them to be separated as the girl is married off to a man she doesn't love. This is not a uniquely Chinese story, but Helen Hayes, Roman Novarro, Lewis Stone, Ralph Morgan, and H.B. Warner were all made up in costumes, wigs, and make up and told to act in stereotypical facial and body expressions.

The basic story isn't bad, but since the "white-washing" of early Hollywood is sometimes pretty painful to watch, this won't be a classic you'll want to watch over and over again. Die-hard Helen Hayes fans will want to watch it, but until the very end climax, she isn't given much opportunity to shine. It's a pretty chilling ending, though, so be prepared. For a similar story about familial duty with Helen deferring to her dad Lewis Stone, check out Vanessa, Her Love Story if you want to see her without so much makeup.

Chinatown, Old San Francisco, early 20th Century. With revolution raging against the despotic Emperor in China, sympathizers in California work feverishly to ship weapons to the rebels, forever fighting Imperial assassins & hatchet men. Against this backdrop, a lovely Chinese maiden, only child of a gentle doctor, finds love with a newly arrived Celestial. She will soon be surrounded by danger & death, but her remarkable bravery will earn her honor as THE SON-DAUGHTER.

It's easy to criticize this film, with its roster of Western actors all playing Asian roles. That, however, would not be fair. It's important to remember that in 1932 Hollywood it was not unusual for stars to portray other nationalities. Indeed, Ramon Novarro, who receives equal billing here with Helen Hayes, made an entire career doing so. Being able to play ethnic roles was part of what acting was all about.

However, it is correct to say that Miss Hayes does give a rather overripe performance. Novarro comes off better, quietly underplaying his role. The rest of the cast - Lewis Stone, H. B. Warner, Ralph Morgan & Warner Oland - are effectively vile or virtuous, as the script demands. Elderly Louise Closser Hale steals a few scenes as the tart-tongued companion of Miss Hayes. Movie mavens will recognize Edwin Maxwell as the Chinese priest officiating at the wedding ceremony.

Good production values - notice the street scenes - show that MGM was not too stingy with the funds spent on this film.

In order to finance a rebellion in the homeland, San Francisco's Chinatown virgin Helen Hayes (as Lian Wha) sells herself in marriage to the highest swarthy bidder. "Am I not all Confucius demands in a wife?" she asks. A smooth-talking auctioneer, Ms. Hayes manages to give herself up for $100,000. It's a supreme sacrifice, since Hayes has just fallen in love with fellow Asian pretender Ramon Novarro (as Tom Lee). Sadly, Hayes' nasty husband Warner Oland (as Fen Sha) retrieves the loot before it can help the Chinese people. Moreover, father Lewis Stone (as Dong Tong) and Mr. Novarro are placed in life-threatening danger.

It seems ludicrous today, but "The Son-Daughter" was quite serious. Novarro was considered a good bet for ethnic roles, and Hayes was seen as a Lillian Gish successor. He was basking in the box office returns for "Mata Hari" (with Greta Garbo) and she was celebrating her "Best Actress" Oscar bounce. This clunky melodrama probably hurt Hayes most, since she was billed first, and expected to carry the picture. Everyone else needed only to cash their paychecks and let the picture fade from memory.

**** The Son-Daughter (12/23/32) Clarence Brown ~ Helen Hayes, Ramon Novarro, Lewis Stone, Warner Oland

Through most of Hollywood's history, the studios have taken an extremely insensitive view towards portraying Asians. While this might not seem at all surprising for the 1920s (when Lon Chaney played MANY Chinese roles), the practice continued well into the modern era--with folks like Mickey Rooney and Tony Randall playing Asians! For a partial list of the ridiculously miscasts folks who played Asians, I give you: Marlon Brando, Edward G. Robinson, John Wayne, Paul Muni, Katharine Hepburn (YES, the red-headed and extremely New England Hepburn), Sidney Toler, Myrna Loy, Boris Karloff, David Carradine, Walter Huston and Agnes Morehead!! Heck, I am surprised they didn't try Shirley Temple or Hattie McDaniel as Asians!!

Here in "The Son-Daughter", the studio has brought us the obvious Asian-like actors, Helen Hayes, Ramon Novarro, Warner Oland, Lewis Stone, Ralph Morgan and even H.B. Warner (who was most famous for playing Jesus in "King of Kings")! Again, the studio establishes several important truths: that the audiences were pretty stupid and would accept this, that working with REAL Asians was deplorable and that there were absolutely no Asian actors in all of California!!! Of course, the first 'truth' might be true, as some of these films with non-Asians playing Asians were very successful. As for the second, it goes without saying. And for the third, of course there were very talented Asians--but the studios simply didn't care to offer them much in the way of leading roles. Sure, they could play slobbering Japanese in wartime films or Number One Son in a Charlie Chan film--but not leading men or women. As a result of these prejudices, there is absolutely no way that I can give this film a particularly good score--even if the rest of the film was perfect...which it isn't.

In "The Son-Daughter", the characters are supposed to be Chinese-Americans, so at least their completely non-Chinese diction can be understood. As for making them look Chinese, the actors mostly squinted!! I am surprised they didn't walk around holding their fingers up to their eyes or sporting buck-teeth to make them look even more Chinese!!

As for the movie itself, it's all pretty silly drivel--very silly indeed. The writing was sappy, the story sappy and the only good thing were the sets--which looked really, really nice. It's obvious MGM had money for sets....and perhaps nothing left for competent writing! Pretty bad.