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Touches You

Simply Perfect

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

After the collapse of the Monarchy of China – the Manchu Dynasty in 1912 – various warlords with their private armies and areas of control were temporarily dominant. So in the film's beginning we are introduced to the chaos in Chinese cities that resulted from intense fighting between factions. During a powerful rainstorm, Megan Davis (Barbara Stanwyck) meets General Yen (Nils Asther) briefly after her rickshaw driver is run down by his automobile. Miss Davis is on her way to a marriage with a Protestant churchman, Dr. Robert Strike (Gavin Gordon), in Shanghai. But Bob finds out that there are children to be rescued at St. Andrew's Orphanage in Chapei. At the reception the minister demonstrates his priorities; he tells Megan that he wants to briefly delay the marriage and work quickly to save the children. They travel to General Yen's HQ to get the necessary travel pass to Chapei. Yen thinks that Bob is stupid to defer his marriage to an attractive woman, and thus gives him a worthless document that mocks Bob. Thus Bob and Megan have difficulty in removing the orphaned Asian and Caucasian children. In the chaos and fighting they become separated, but Megan gets rescued by Yen, who places her in a bedroom on his troop train. Later, while asleep in his palace, she is awakened by a firing squad; the general is eliminating his enemies. As Megan is horrified, Yen philosophizes that it is better to die quickly then slowly starve to death, as he has no rice to feed his prisoners. Out of deference to Megan he has the surviving prisoners moved, but only to be executed out of earshot. Megan calls him a "yellow swine." Yen's reaction is passive. In conversation with his financial adviser Jones (Walter Connolly), Yen says he plans on keeping Megan in custody. When Jones responds that she is white, Yen replies, "That's all right. I have no prejudice against her color." Jones retorts, "Well, it's no skin off my nose." While in custody Megan tries to bribe Yen's concubine Mah-Li (Toshia Mori) to get a message to Bob. But Mah-Li is treacherous: She takes Megan's payment (a ring) but hides the message. Before the half-way mark of the movie there is a fascinating dream sequence. In it Yen is a Chinese caricature-monster who breaks down Megan's bedroom door to get at her. But she is rescued by a masked man who knocks the monster out flat. When she unmasks her hero, she discovers that it is … Yen the rescuer! They kiss and caress as Megan is awakened by Yen dressed in traditional Chinese clothing. Skeptical of missionaries, Yen asks her if she knows anything of Chinese artistic culture: poetry, music, painting. Of course she knows nothing as she has only been in China for a few days. The general reminds her to accept his dinner invitation (Megan rejected previous ones). Meanwhile Megan has noticed that Mah-Li is courted by Chinese Captain Li (Richard Loo), Yen's aide. At dinner, Jones talks too much. A war profiteer, he has been a master at gaining money from the provincials for the general at no small profit for himself. That does not matter to Yen, as long as the goals of the two men are congruent. Meanwhile Yen removes Mah-Li's jade bracelets and rings and presents them to Megan, who refuses them. Although they are forced upon her, Megan returns them to Mah-Li, who Yen has discovered has been betraying military secrets to his enemies. Megan successfully pleads for Mah-Li's life but by doing so becomes Yen's willful hostage.But Mah-Li is habitually disloyal. There is a short but thrilling action scene when two trains are parked parallel. A signal is made, and a company of soldiers hiding in the gondola car of one open fire at the other (Yen's money train). The shots are returned, but Yen's forces are overcome as his enemies drive the train away. Mah-Li has again betrayed Yen to his enemy (General Feng) and has duped Megan. Without money, Yen's soldiers begin deserting him; his spacious palace becomes empty. More than fifteen minutes of movie time is focused on the pragmatic general's last day. With hope lost, Yen has to drink the bitter tea, but he dies in the arms of Megan. Megan and Jones sail back to Shanghai. Nils Asther, the only non-Asian to play an oriental in this film, has a tremendously strong screen presence. As General Yen, he plays his role with dignity and intelligence, and is mannerly. Barbara Stanwyck was usually good ("Stella Dallas," "Double Indemnity," "Walk on the Wild Side," "The Big Valley"). Toshia Mori, a Japanese-American, played her Chinese character well. She had some movie roles in the 1920s and 1930s. Walter Connolly as Jones is a sufficient oily profiteer who cares only for his master: money!Frank Capra, one of America's greatest directors, is noted for well- crafted movies and impeccable set designs (note Yen's palace), even with lower budgets. He was masterful in visual geometry and at using light and shadow for setting mood. Capra's gifts extended to action sets and character development. Although a Sicilian immigrant, he lived the American dream, and thus his successful movies often focused on idealistic Americana. Three times Columbia's great director won an Academy Award for Best Movie in the 1930s; in 1939 he was chosen the top Hollywood director by Time Magazine. It was only after World War II when a deflated public became skeptical, and so his "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) was not initially appreciated. In time Capra's genius was again recognized, and that movie is now a perennial Christmas classic for new generations. Capra directed the best actors and actresses of his time, including Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, Spencer Tracy, Claude Rains, Walter Brennan, Walter Huston, Claudette Colbert, Loretta Young, Jean Arthur, Katherine Hepburn, Donna Reed, and Eleanor Parker.

American missionary Megan Davis (Barbara Stanwyck) is sent to China which is in the middle of a civil war. There she meets cold, evil General Yen (Swedish actor Nils Asther). He is attracted to her despite already being married. She rejects his advances but slowly becomes attracted to him too.This was not a big hit in its day (which is probably why it's mostly unknown today). Back then dealing with an interracial romance was pretty risky but today it comes across as pretty silly! Even though this is pre-Code it's not that explicit and they never push the envelope in terms of the romance. As a result this comes across as pretty muted and I'm still not sure WHAT was going through Stanwyck's mind at the end. Even worse Stanwyck is badly miscast. Really--her as a missionary???? Also Asther isn't even remotely believable as an Asian. Still I didn't hate the film. It was well-done with some beautiful settings (General Yen's palace is an eye-opener) and some great cinematography. Also, despite his miscasting, Asther is great as Yen and is obviously having a whale of a time in his role. I had a lot of fun hearing him trying to cover his Swedish accent with an Asian accent! Some people might find this film offensive. I saw it in a revival theatre back in the 1980s and a white college student was laughing at it and hissing it virtually nonstop. I'm not sure WHAT his problem was with it (maybe having a Swedish guy playing an Asian guy might have something to do with it) but I'm guessing it might offend some people. I just find this an antiquated, miscast but beautiful film. It's also pretty short (88 minutes). I give this a mild recommendation.

Though it dates from 1933 both director Capra and actress Stanwyck were veterans of the movies and had indeed already worked together notably on Miracle Woman, a thinly-veiled take on Aimee Semple MacPherson. This time the canvas is broader embracing racism, politics and miscegenation just for starters. Swedish Nils Asther was convincing as the eponymous Chinese warlord who more or less kidnaps Stanwyck who has ostensibly journeyed to China to marry her missionary fiancé. Much has been made of the erotic dream sequence which gives Stanwyck an opportunity to confront her sexual confusion - attraction/repulsion - regarding Yen. For the time the setting was remarkably authentic and we have to score it as a little-known/seen gem.

Frank Capra made a sort of "little" film in 1933, little in that it starred then up-and-coming Barbara Stanwyck (the future iconic star of Double Indemnity and The Furies had only been in a few films before) and that it dealt with a topic that was very touchy to attempt for in 1933; only Griffith before had tried to deal with some kind of interracial bonding and/or sexual tension between white and Chinese people on screen, at least to my knowledge. What ended up working in favor for Capra with his story, and what makes it still work today still despite the creaky bits of racist dialog (i.e. "China-man" is repeated throughout by the supposedly tolerant missionary Megan Davis), is the script. This has excellent dialog and a potent message about trying to make a difference, to make some sort of change where things are, perhaps in simplification (hey, it's Capra), about the same as they've been for 2,000 years.It's a message that infers some tendencies to prejudices on both sides, of the white well-educated woman who sees to do good wherever she can and the stalwart General who will try to impress and act cordial around the lady but mostly because he wants to have his way- which may be with her. The story itself sounds kind of typical, probably because by today's standards it is: Megan Davis has just come to China to do missionary work but is caught in the midst of a bad civil war going on, and after a tumultuous battle she gets caught up in in the streets and is knocked out is taken into the 'care' of General Yen (Nils Asther, no, not Chinese apparently but does so good a job as to not notice *too* much). She cannot leave his custody at his palace because of the battling blocking up the train tracks, and has to stick tight... in the span of a week she tries to spare a life of a spy and almost falls for Yen, or maybe more than almost.It's actually the one complicated and really exacting thing in this production is seeing Asther and Stanwyck on screen. I'm not sure if the latter gave quite a great performance, but for what she's given she elevates it into a stern-faced but kind-hearted portrayal of a woman caught in an untenable situation, and Asther gives as good as he can by bypassing the obvious pit-fall of stereotyping by making Yen a very human figure. He's a man of class and taste but also tradition and with that typical double-edged sword of being ruthless with slaughter and elegant in decorum and in attitude. Somehow Capra is able to garner very good work from them with a story that, in the wrong hands, could become the most ham-fisted thing on the planet.Luckily not only is Capra uncompromising in dealing with the issues at hand both upfront and underlying in terms of race and ethnicity and just the clashing of cultures, but in technical terms with the bits of battle scenes (the shoot-out late in the film at the train station is breathtaking for 1933 and pretty good for today), and it shows a director so confident in his craft that he could be ready for better things. It might be dated... actually, it is dated. But for any and all faults, it's a picture made with surprising sensitivity and compassion for all its characters, and it doesn't stick to clichés just for the sake of it - it's a solid drama without much pretension, save for a dream sequence that's actually hallucinatory in the best way.