utgard14
Pale imitator of The Good Earth that lacks that film's style or heart. The backdrop is 1930s China and the Japanese invasion. The cast is made up of white people playing the Chinese parts and, actually, that's not a deal-breaker for me. I recognize and accept the time in which this was made so the yellowface is not something that outrages me. Although admittedly the constant close-ups of Katharine Hepburn making silly faces while made up the way she was made it a lot harder to tolerate. Anyway, the problem I have with this movie is not the white actors playing Chinese characters. The problem I have is that they play these characters like they aren't real human beings.The script does the cast no favors but the actors have to own their performances here, no matter how respected they are (Hepburn and Walter Huston, this means you). The portrayal of Chinese people here is condescending and, frankly, insulting. They don't seem like human beings with real thoughts and emotions. They are played like aliens who imitate human emotions rather than actually experiencing them. They spew forth fortune cookie dialogue and, despite the movie being in English, talk as though English was a completely foreign language to them. It's really very stupid and impossible to take seriously. I have a hard time trying to decide if this is Hepburn's worst role or if that honor goes to "Spitfire," where she played a hillbilly named Trigger.It's interesting that this was made by politically and philosophically enlightened types, considering their treatment of "furners" here is so offensive. I'm sure those involved with the making of this mess meant well but good intentions is only an excuse that will get you so far. Their hearts may have been in the right place but their heads were up their...well, you know.
jhkp
I was crazy about this film! There were a few flaws (in my opinion), which I'll get to in a moment. But I found the film fascinating on a few levels. First, the heroine, Jade, is an amazing character. I can understand why MGM thought one of their own biggest stars, Katharine Hepburn, would excel in this role. Like Hepburn, she's a determined, headstrong, never-say-die type of character, who happens, also, to possess a good deal of feminine charm. After a minute or two, I wasn't very concerned about the fact that Hepburn was not Chinese. She was so very right, in temperament, for the role. It does take some time before the acceptance of Miss Hepburn as the character is total, but that does happen, a bit further down the line.Since this is a story of a woman character facing a brutal enemy in a war on her home turf, I'm surprised more people did not like it for that reason alone. (Since few war movies come at it from this angle - other than Gone With The Wind.) Moreover this is a very modern woman who resists the traditions of her upbringing and, because it needs to be done, leaves her village along with her husband and joins a band of resisters transporting heavy machinery across the country in the most grueling conditions - while she's pregnant! Though the film leaves it ambiguous as to whether these are Communists or Nationalists, one would be hard pressed not to be lost in admiration for their grit and guts. One day Jade decides she really needs to take a day or two off, as the baby is due, and proceeds to bear a healthy child who eventually is brought home by her in a large basket (the child having grown) she carries on her back.But this is not Jade's story, alone, it's much more of an ensemble piece about an entire family of farmers facing the invasion of the Japanese in the 1930's. Their various tribulations and joys are for the most part, grippingly and entertainingly depicted. The father and mother of this family (Jade's in-laws) are brilliantly played by Walter Huston and Aline McMahon. Turhan Bey, Henry Travers, Robert Bice, and Frances Rafferty also have major roles. A duplicitous character is played by Akim Tamiroff, his faithful wife by Jacqueline DeWit, and Travers' selfish wife by Agnes Moorehead. Hurd Hatfield plays the gentle, favored Third Son who becomes bloodthirsty and abhorrent to his parents.The film ranges very well from intimate human drama to spectacle and back again. The production design is really splendid, and the penultimate scenes of "scorched earth" are both heartbreaking and exhilarating. I marveled at what these people had to go through and how they faced it. It was truly grueling and incredible.As for Caucasian actors in Asian makeup. This is not a documentary. I believe the Chinese staged a production of Death Of A Salesman. And the Japanese had a very long-running stage production of Gone With The Wind. This particular film was a tribute by Americans to the spirit of another people, and I didn't find it inappropriate. Not that it works all the time, but overall it was carried off extremely well.As to the casting of Hepburn, someone said her New England accent was wrong for the part, but since, in real life, the characters would be speaking Chinese, not English, we're already suspending disbelief and her accent didn't bother me. She actually does an awesome job, and gets inside the role. There are few if any other white actresses of the time who would have been able to play the part at all. Hepburn not only plays it, but is excellent in it.Certain parts of the film are a little too broad, but these aren't frequent. Agnes Moorehead is very broad at first but she simmers down later and actually ends up being quite good. The marauding Japanese are played too broadly. The assault in the woods might have been even more effective if they had been played as grim and serious, rather than in a caricatured way, smiling, with clichéd comments, etc. In the book, this was a chilling scene. It's still effective in the film, but when a scene is horrific, it's not necessary to add a lot of "acting" to it. Frances Rafferty is great in the scene, by the way.Lionel Barrymore narrates the film and he has one of the most marvelous voices ever. His narration adds something significant to the film.When you have seen this motion picture you will feel like you have witnessed a truly human, emotional story, a piece of history, and it may leave you wondering about man's inhumanity to man, as it is one of the most unflinching films made during the war years. But it will give you hope and inspire you, as well.
mclean36
I found this movie to be racist and deplorable with it's use of non-Asian actors in lead roles, i.e. Katharine Hepburn as Jade. The movie did little to evoke a consciousness, as it should because of the poignant historical references. The acting is devoid of emotion in some scenes, and doubly overacted in others.Despite all the surface problems, I did enjoy the performance of Akim Tamiroff as Wu Lein. Also the smatterings of Asian actors was a relief, and all but saved the movie. And although the historical references are fully explored I did enjoy the romance and blossoming love between Jade and Wu Lein.
