The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932)

Directed by

Frank Capra

Genre

drama film, romance film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 27m

Rating

6.3 of 10 from 102 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

An American missionary in Shanghai is knocked unconscious while trying to save orphans during a battle. A Chinese warlord saves her and brings her to his palace, where he falls in love with her. She struggles with her attraction to him and stays by his side when his fortunes change.

romantictensemelancholicdramaticvisually lushslow-burnunsettlingatmospheric

What happens

The Bitter Tea of General Yen is a 1933 American pre-Code drama war film directed by Frank Capra and starring Barbara Stanwyck, and featuring Nils Asther and Walter Connolly. Based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Grace Zaring Stone, the film is about an American missionary in Shanghai during the Chinese Civil War who gets caught in a battle while trying to save a group of orphans. Knocked unconscious, she is saved by a Chinese general warlord who brings her to his palace. When the general falls in love with the naive young woman, she fights her attraction to the powerful general and resists his flirtation, yet remains at his side when his fortune turns. The Bitter Tea of General Yen was the first film to play at Radio City Music Hall upon its opening on January 6, 1933. It was also one of the first films to deal openly with interracial sexual attraction. The film was a box office failure upon its release and has since been overshadowed by Capra's later efforts. In recent years, the film has grown in critical opinion. In 2000, the film was chosen by film critic Derek Malcolm as one of the hundred best films in The Century of Films. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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