Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
Director: Frank Capra
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Light years away from the homespun, small-town Capracorn for which the director is best known, this exotic, erotic melodrama is by far his finest achievement. Stanwyck, subtly radiant, is the American missionary in Shanghai who is abducted by a highly sophisticated Chinese warlord (Asther); like the film itself, she is both fascinated and repelled by the prospect of miscegenation. Where Capra's other films are largely stolid, prosaic and talky, this is sensuous and profoundly cinematic, perhaps most notably in a sequence in which Stanwyck dreams of her seduction by a forceful Asther. Odd, but oddly moving.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Frank Capra
Producer: Frank Capra
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther, Gavin Gordon, Toshia Mori, Richard Loo, Walter Connolly full cast
Duration: 89 mins
Top Stories
Ridley Scott interview
Director Ridley Scott tells Cath Clarke why he's making a science fiction comeback
Cannes Film Festival 2012: half-time report
Dave Calhoun reports on the hits, misses and a shocking new masterpiece from Michael Haneke
What do you think?
Post your review now