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Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)

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100

Average Rating: 7.4/10
Reviews Counted: 7
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 0

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Release Date: Jan 3, 1933 Wide

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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 680

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Movie Info

The Bitter Tea of General Yen is the oddest, least characteristic talkie effort of director Frank Capra. Barbara Stanwyck stars as the intended of an American missionary (Gavin Gordon) who is sent to spread the good word in China. During a military revolution, Stanwyck and her fiance inadvertently wander into forbidden territory while trying to help a group of orphans escape. The couple is forcibly detained by elegant warlord General Yen (played by Swedish actor Nils Ashter), who relies upon the

Unrated, 1 hr. 29 min.

Drama, Romance, Classics

Directed By: Frank Capra

In Theaters: Jan 3, 1933 Wide

On DVD: Sep 1, 1993

Columbia Pictures

Cast

Barbara Stanwyck
Megan Davis
Nils Asther
Gen. Yen
Gavin Gordon
Dr. Robert Strike
Toshia Mori
Mah-Li
Walter Connolly
Jones
Richard Loo
Captain Li
Jessie Arnold
Mrs. Blake
Clara Blandick
Mrs. Jackson
Robert Bolder
Missionary
Nora Cecil
Missionary
Emmett Corrigan
Bishop Harkness
Helen Jerome Eddy
Miss Reed
Knute Erickson
Dr. Hansen
Willie Fung
Officer
Adda Gleason
Mrs. Bowman
Ella Hall
Mrs. Hansen
Lillian Leighton
Lucien Littlefield
Mr. Jackson
Martha Mattox
Miss Avery
Arthur Millett
Mr. Pettis
Moy Ming
Dr. Lin
Daisy Robinson
Mrs. Warden
Robert Wayne
Rev. Bostwick
Arthur Johnston
Dr. Shuler
Ray Young
Engineer

Critic Reviews for Bitter Tea of General Yen

All Critics (13) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (7) | Rotten (0) | DVD (1)

An odd duck to be sure: substantially darker than the other Capra films I've seen, with a Chinese civil war and firing squads serving as the backdrop for a love story that never really comes together.

July 4, 2010 Full Review Source: Film and Felt

| Comment

Gabe Leibowitz

Film and Felt

If any Hollywood film from the '30s is positively begging to be rediscovered...this is it.

September 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy

| Comment

Tim Brayton

Antagony & Ecstasy

Weird, poetic, deliberately pretentious drama from Capra.

November 24, 2003 Comment

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

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Audience Reviews for Bitter Tea of General Yen

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This early Frank Capra film is much different and more serious in tone than the later, lighter films that made his reputation. The story, of a young fiancee' of a missionary in China who is kidnapped by a general with whom she eventually falls in love, must have given the censors ulcers back then. Even discounting the

December 10, 2010

Cindy I

Super Reviewer

capra's most daring film was a box office disaster in 1933. it was denounced by women's groups and religious organizations in america and banned in the british empire for obliquely portraying an interracial love story between star barbara stanwyck and a chinese general (played by a swedish guy of course *eyeroll*) and

June 12, 2009