Love In Asia Times-William Holden And Jennifer Jones’ Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing,

DVD Review

By Sam Lowell

Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing, Jennifer Jones, William Holden, based on an autobiographical novel by Han Suyin, 1955

Hollywood, now Bollywood and rest of the world cinematic trends as well, has always thrived on, heck, lived for decent if forlorn romantic movies to set the hearts of the female patrons a-flitter (and get the guys or these days whoever the escort may be to take the next seat). Back in the day, back in the post-Code 1950 (well before subject matter, nudity, profanity and whatever else a production company could think of to tititilate trumped the restrictions of the increasingly unenforceable Code) most of the romances were straightforward, were look a-like boy meets look a-like-girl vehicles (meaning same race). Seldom did Hollywood venture in interracial relationships (at a time when in the United States it was illegal for blacks and whites to intermarry, for example) and so the subject matter here struck me as a viewer in 2016 of the 1955 “tear-jerker” (good “tear-jerker” but tear-jerker nevertheless) Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing seemed as rather going against the stream.

Of course the main character Mark Elliot, played by William Holden last seen in this space face down in faded film start Norma Desmond’s swimming pool in the Oscar-winning Sunset Boulevard, a classic All-American guy, good-looking guy with physique to match, a writer, a newspaper writer living in Hong Kong waiting for the other shoe to drop in the coming to a head Chinese Civil War is looking for love in all the wrong places. But he can be excused for his errors since he was tied down by an extremely unhappy marriage (to an unseen off-screen wife) and because he was attracted to the Eurasian beauty Han Suyin, a stern and solid doctor out to help her people, her Chinese people. Of course, maybe reflecting the tenor of the times, as well that Eurasian beauty Suyin was played by the American actress from Oklahoma Jennifer Jones (last seen in this space playing a seemingly goofy Brit in Beat The Devil) and not a real Eurasian beauty. (By the way Jones seems to have been an all-purpose 1950s “ethnic” playing Latina, Native American and that Brit role as well).

In the nature of such films Mark and Suyin, or rather Suyin played hard to get, or rather has no time for romance since the death of her Nationalist-side husband in the civil war. She is all about work, all about not getting involved with a married man (at least he was honest with her at the beginning about his marital status), above all very concerned about being a proper Chinese high society denizen above reproach and above getting tangled up with a gringo. But he wears her defenses down and they begin thinking about marriage to make things right (everybody except twelve year old boys like me when I was twelve back when this film was first released knew they were “hitting the satin sheets,” having sex, making love not shown on the screen in those days so leaving us clueless about those chaste love scenes and then fade as usual). Making her an honest woman in society, Chinese society as well as colonial, where she faced some serious scorn and trauma for hanging with Mark. Including losing her position in the British Crown Colony hospital. Then the Korean War came along to “save” them once Mark’s wife would not divorce him. Came along and solved everything when he was killed while reporting from that benighted place, leaving Suyin with nothing but beautiful memories of her beautiful man. Love may be many-splendored but sometimes it’s a tough dollar too. Like I said a tear-jerker, a good tear-jerker, but tear-jerker nevertheless.