Year of Release: 1955Country of Origin: USA
Director: Henry King
Cast: William Holden, Jennifer Jones
Plot outline: The story of a married but separated American correspondent who falls in love with a Eurasian doctor only to encounter prejudice from her family and from Hong Kong society (IMDb).
Adapted from the novel A Many-Splendoured Thing by Han Suyin, the theme song "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" does as much to establish the emotional level of this elaborately sentimental movie as does the talkative screen play or the earnest performing of the stars. For it is the tune of this deeply unctuous ballad, played as an insistent refrain behind the developing love scenes of William Holden and Jennifer Jones, that expresses the sweetness and monotony of the dew-dappled romance that occurs, with the upbeats and surges hotly thundered in stereo sound. In the novel, there were several dominant factors to restrain and, indeed, to obstruct the development and emotional fulfillment of their love. For one thing, the fact that the woman was neither all English nor all Chinese served to stigmatize her socially and cast her in a marginal world. For another, her passionate interest in medicine and the need for her to assist in combating a local epidemic often got in the way of romance. In the picture, however, the producers have allowed these considerable factors to be only token restraints. The medical interest is minor. There is no epidemic, but just an orphan child, to deflect very slightly the professional duty and the emotional concentration of the woman. And the social taboo is almost funny. The only thing that stands between them and their marriage is that, unfortunately, the man is already wed. This is the sole and stubborn barrier - until he is killed in the Korean war. With an impotent screen play, it is no wonder that Holden and Jones find themselves going around in narrowing circles, talking endlessly and holding hands. There is a great deal of running to meet each other at the top of a hill or looking out across the lovely harbor and insisting this simply can't go on. Holden is serious and unyielding; Jones is lovely and intense. Her dark beauty reflects sunshine and sadness. She could be a piece of delicately carved stone. There is little to say of the other actors Torin Thatcher and Isobel Elsom are English snobs, Jorja Curtright is a cheap Eurasian mistress and Kam Tong is a Chinese doctor with a Red tinge. The Hong Kong scenery is endlessly exciting in color. But the locale and its restless population have little or nothing to do with the shaping of the tale. (NYT)
My judgement: *** out of 4 stars
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