Love is a Many-Splendored Thing

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(5 stars) - this is what sundays are about
great film the song title will have you in tears as for the film well great story and another one for your collection .a must brian

(5 stars) - Magic
This movie has been panned as melodramatic and not very deep when it comes to talk about Communist China. There are also complaints about Jennifer Jones not being good in the part. It's this last criticism that I find most strange. In the 50's no less, she portrays a beautiful and complex woman with an independent life she never even hints at giving up for love. It's perfect. The love story is romantic but not unrealistic--what I mean by that is the people had just fallen in love and people really do act like that during the first meeing of two souls. The music is wonderful, the architecture and costumes beautiful. It's just magic and well worth having. Ok, women are going to like it better than men. I also think the comments on communism have actually grown more relevant over time. They are not silly. I don't think the movie is dated, it portrays a love story with complexity yet maintains a simple enough story to make it easy to just concentrate on love of life.

(3 stars) - "We shall now have tea and speak of absurdities."
That line never fails to make me laugh when I hear it within the context of an intentionally dramatic scene in this atmospheric 1955 romantic sudser that was a big hit in its day thanks to the familiar Sammy Fain theme song. At the same time, the somewhat patronizing Orientalism of that line represents much of the arm's-length approach the film has in reflecting the U.S. attitude toward China in the 1950's. Viewed by today's standards, the result feels emotionally simplistic like a more thoughtful Harlequin romance novel, even though the production values are first-rate. However, the bigger problem with the film is the unfortunate lack of chemistry between the two leads, Jennifer Jones and William Holden. Their characters' romance never quite resonates, and the pacing is not helped by Henry King's lugubrious direction.

Set against the backdrop of the 1949 Communist Revolution, Han Suyin, a Eurasian doctor in Hong Kong falls for Mark Elliott, a married war correspondent. The film focuses on their somewhat illicit love story at a time when a relationship between a half-Chinese, half-European woman and an American was considered as forbidden as the inevitable adultery. The racism and culture clashes between East and West take up much of the storyline with the lovers surrounded by English colonialists thriving on the class distinctions left over from the Victorian era, and by her equally traditional Chinese relatives who shun the imprint being left by the Europeans. The film benefits immensely from the use of actual Hong Kong locations with the cinematography by Leon Shamroy and Charles G. Clark providing a textbook example of how to create the right atmosphere given the exotic locations.

Because of her Svengali-like relationship and eventual marriage to mega-producer David O. Selznick (Gone with the Wind), Jones had an interesting array of roles during her career. She can be appealing in the right role (Portrait of Jennie, Beat the Devil), but she never quite brings this conflicted character to life. Burdened with trying to look and act Chinese, she comes across as stiff and often actressy, although she improves as the story moves along. As Mark, Holden is wasted in a relatively colorless role given that he was at his career peak at the time, and despite his expressions of enduring love, he can't seem to create the desperately needed sparks with Jones like he did with Audrey Hepburn or Grace Kelly. Even with all its flaws, the movie is still worthwhile to see for its lush production and for the surprisingly robust set of extras on the 2003 DVD with a commentary track provided by film historian Sylvia Stoddard, UCLA film scholar John Burlingame, and cinematographer Michael Lonzo. Stoddard and Burlingame fill in a lot of the interesting details on the life of the real Han Suyin, while Lonzo's comments are limited to the technical details of the CinemaScope production.

(5 stars) - A True Movie Classic
This movie is a must see for anyone who is a fan of classic love stories.

(5 stars) - Much clearer than my old VHS copy
My copy of this movie was very old and the new and enhansed version much better and clearer with good color.

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