Tonight, almost by accident, we saw the entirety of THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN (1933), with Barbara Stanwick as the earnest young missionary faced with the horrors of the Chinese Civil War and Nils Asther as warlord General Yen. This was an interesting movie, not only for its subject matter, but also for the reactions it elicited in me – is this an accurate movie? Are these really the morals followed by the Chinese? I don’t know Confucianism, but they don’t really seem to be that way; they’re more machiavellian. And when Stanwick shouts “yellow swine”, it really gives a bit of a shock to see some racism lit up in lights…
And yet, in her dreams, she fantasizes being saved from a stereotypical ‘yellow devil’ by a man wearing a Western business suit – and General Yen’s face. So there’s more subtlety to this movie than, perhaps, you’d think from a simple-minded summary such as mine. Yet, given the lack of idealism implied by Yen’s speech concerning the loyalty of his troops, I wonder at the duplicity of his servant – her position being so dangerous, why would she betray him? Simply love over the other hostage, a Captain Li who is the only son of a rich family? Loyalty to her people? Perhaps an implication that the Chinese of the period were not all alike, that some believed in ideals? And, yet, with Stanwick’s life in her hands, she happily betrays her as well to what could easily be Stanwick’s death.
So the movie is more than it seems. Even as the stereotypes come flooding in the front door, nuance and thoughtfulness beckon from the parlor. Contemporary audiences thought little of the movie, unfortunately. From Wikipedia:
Barbara Stanwyck blamed its poor box-office showing on racist backlash. Miscegenation, so soon to become taboo in Hollywood, is made palatable and attractive as a natural outcome of passions molded by tumultuous times. McBride quotes her as saying, “The women’s clubs came out very strongly against it … I was so shocked. [Such a reaction] never occurred to me, and I don’t think it occurred to Mr. Capra when we were doing it.”[
