So glad you are here again! We missed you!

I found that the films that Hayakawa and Wong made in the 1930s, such as Daughter of the Dragon (1931) to be particularly interesting, since both were being marginalized as performers as the industry became more corporately centralized, the beginning of the Production Code restricted nuanced characterizations, and their cultural position became much less influential in the U.S. market. Both actors brought enormous dignity and honesty to their roles, despite the changing times.

My favorite film set in China, which I’d never seen before the recent festival, is The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933). This romantic yet fatalistic Frank Capra film (completely unlike almost every other Capra movie I’ve ever seen), featured two memorable performances. Barbara Stanwyck, whom I admire, usually without feeling much sympathy for her, was particularly compelling. Though not ideal casting as a naive missionary, the erotic catharsis of her character was credible and memorable. Nils Asther as the warlord was a revelation, making the failure of Hollywood to utilize his talent subsequently an example of the profligate waste that the studio system sometimes allowed to happen. While Peter X. Feng, the curator who helped to plan the series pointed out the film’s limitations, it was also a remarkable, unforgettable movie, and one that made me realize what an artist Capra truly was in this unique, dreamlike look at love and a tragic fate–as seen through an imagined Chinese lens.