The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932)

You don't really expect to see poetic realism in a Hollywood film, yet here it is. Frank Capra's atypical 1932 piece is a about an interracial romance, with the lovers doomed to disappointment. It was the first film to play at Radio City
Music Hall when it opened in January, 1933. Barbara Stanwycke plays an innocent and vacuous young missionary, who falls into the hands of cynical General Yen. Inevitably, they fall in love, neither quite willing to admit it. The film does an outstanding job of portraying the racist and elitist character of the missionaries and western opportunists. Following the custom of the time, Yen is played by a white, Swedish actor, Nils Asther. Warner Oland, star of the Charlie Chan pictures was coincidentally also Swedish. One cannot help but be reminded of Shangahi Express, starring Marlene Dietrich and Warner Oland, another 1932 classic directed by Josef von Sternberg. What seems seldom considered is the way in which Asther is photographed and prepared. He clearly is presented in the manner of a woman, and while undoubtedly masculine, his delicate features and fine manners, his elegant carriage and his tall, thin body give him an almost feminine beauty which the camera captures and amplifies. It is Asther, not Stanwycke who is the visual delight. He fills the same rôle which Dietrich played in Shanghai Express. He is a beautiful man, and we know it. While it is said that The Bitter Tea of General Yen did poorly at the box office because of its interracial content, it may also be because Asther was placed on show in such an open and erotic manner. 1930's audiences may have been very uncomfortable with the presentation of the masculine gaze directed at another man. The cinematography and set design are outstanding, making it a very beautiful, dreamy film with acting, generally of superior quality, and a highly literate and socially conscious script. It is a sensuous delight, worth viewing in the context of the orientalist films of Warner Oland, Peter Lorre, Sidney Toler and Boris Karloff.