When you see in the credits that the Chinese villain, Yang, is played by Lee J. Cobb, and the hero's girl friend, Yin, is played by Jean Porter, you know at once you're in trouble. When you see Bogart show up in a priest's outfit, any lingering doubts are dispelled. When we get around to the dozen cute native children singing "My Old Kentucky Home" first in English, then in Chinese, you realize you should have followed the advice of the Roman philosopher Seneca and always expect less than you expected to get.
Actually, Bogart is not a priest but a pilot for some unnamed Air Force who has been pressed into the service of some Chinese warlord and was only able to make his escape from forced servitude in disguise. At the end, he risks his own life for the safety of two villages (one Protestant, one Catholic) by playing dice with the Chinesed-up Lee J. Cobb. It's a big risk. But the atheistic Bogart is warmed by a feeling of luck being on his side. In other words, he has found "faith". Yes, it's an epiphany. Bogart at once joins a Trappist monastery in Tennessee and takes vows of silence, poverty, and celibacy. His only problem is that he doesn't want the usual monk's tonsure because he claims all he needs to do is remove his toupee. But his commitment pays off. Later he is canonized in the Korean war.
They turned Malibu canyon into China, and it looks alright, though of course the hills of the Coast Range crowd the horizon, blocking off the traffic on the Coast Highway. The director, Edward Dmytryk, had given us some challenging films earlier in his career -- "Sniper," "Crossfire", "The Young Lions" -- but by this time in his career, after some difficulties during the McCarthy era, he seemed pretty fagged out. Humphrey Bogart more or less walks through the part. His mind may have been elsewhere; he was dying. But the part isn't really exciting anyway. Neither is Gene Tierney's, as Bogart's love interest. She was having serious psychiatric problems. Bogart urged her to get professional help and she went through shock treatments at one of the oldest mental health facilities in the country, where I once gave a lecture, come to think of it. For a Chinese villain, Lee J. Cobb is pretty chilled. Smiling, relaxed, smoking a cigar. He never gets overwrought as he did in "Twelve Angry Men," although the role would have permitted it.
All in all, a feeling of pattern exhaustion pervades the movie. It doesn't look as if anyone was having much fun, American OR Chinese. Well, maybe Philip Ahn liked the paycheck, but he's Korean.
You know, I just realized something. The two most prominent "Chinese" roles are named Yin and Yang. Are they kidding?
Actually, Bogart is not a priest but a pilot for some unnamed Air Force who has been pressed into the service of some Chinese warlord and was only able to make his escape from forced servitude in disguise. At the end, he risks his own life for the safety of two villages (one Protestant, one Catholic) by playing dice with the Chinesed-up Lee J. Cobb. It's a big risk. But the atheistic Bogart is warmed by a feeling of luck being on his side. In other words, he has found "faith". Yes, it's an epiphany. Bogart at once joins a Trappist monastery in Tennessee and takes vows of silence, poverty, and celibacy. His only problem is that he doesn't want the usual monk's tonsure because he claims all he needs to do is remove his toupee. But his commitment pays off. Later he is canonized in the Korean war.
They turned Malibu canyon into China, and it looks alright, though of course the hills of the Coast Range crowd the horizon, blocking off the traffic on the Coast Highway. The director, Edward Dmytryk, had given us some challenging films earlier in his career -- "Sniper," "Crossfire", "The Young Lions" -- but by this time in his career, after some difficulties during the McCarthy era, he seemed pretty fagged out. Humphrey Bogart more or less walks through the part. His mind may have been elsewhere; he was dying. But the part isn't really exciting anyway. Neither is Gene Tierney's, as Bogart's love interest. She was having serious psychiatric problems. Bogart urged her to get professional help and she went through shock treatments at one of the oldest mental health facilities in the country, where I once gave a lecture, come to think of it. For a Chinese villain, Lee J. Cobb is pretty chilled. Smiling, relaxed, smoking a cigar. He never gets overwrought as he did in "Twelve Angry Men," although the role would have permitted it.
All in all, a feeling of pattern exhaustion pervades the movie. It doesn't look as if anyone was having much fun, American OR Chinese. Well, maybe Philip Ahn liked the paycheck, but he's Korean.
You know, I just realized something. The two most prominent "Chinese" roles are named Yin and Yang. Are they kidding?