LGM Film Club, Part 280: China Doll

Criterion is currently running a curated series of depictions of the Chinese in Hollywood. To say the least, it’s a set of, uh, complicated portrayals. One of the more positive portrayals is in China Doll, the 1958 Frank Borzage film starring Victor Mature as a World War II pilot flying between India and China and Li Hua Li as Shu-Jen, the bonded Chinese woman he falls in love with and then marries. Ward Bond plays the missionary that makes Mature see the light. Mostly, this is a very bad film. The end is a complete disaster and in fact the last 20 minutes are totally unwatchable. The story is stupid and the acting pretty wooden (which from Mature is not exactly unusual). The title is execrable and repeats the seuxalization of Asians. But the portrayal of Shu-Jen is….actually pretty good. She really is a sympathetic character and Borzage avoids almost all stereotypes when he uses the Chinese characters. Li was a huge star in Chinese cinema and a very good actor, so that may explain why she is the best part of the film.

Too bad the rest of the film is junk. Interesting historical document though.

Here’s a snippet: