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Love Is a Many Splendored Thing

Love Is a Many Splendored Thing

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A terrific story!
Review: A well acted and well written story about the prejudices against cross racial marriages, Jennifer Jone's chinese relatives are against her marrying William Holden. Hard to hold back the tears at the end of this one!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great motives. Labored execution
Review: All of the scenes seemed so staged and unnatural except for the scene where Suyin goes to visit her family. That one scene seemed to me very authentic. And the dialogue was so hokey I couldn't believe it. After viewing it I couldn't believe that the film had been nominated for best picture. Must have been a bad year for film.

Although I have to applaud the film for shining some light on the racism so blatantly and sometimes subtlely displayed towards a people in their native land. Never ceases to blow my mind how arrogant, ignorant and downright rude Americans (whom I am one) can be.

The romance was obvious and there was little chemistry between Holden and the lovely Ms. Jones. More character development could've helped the story. What was it about Suyin that William Holden was so attracted to verses other women. And vice versa.

Good storyline but an obvious story.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Poetry in Motion...(Picture,,,, that is)
Review: Besides the cinematography and unmatched cast of the two leading stars....the script was written so beautifully. Some of the lyrical lines such as, "I believe destiny has something in store for us." These are the some of the first romantic words Mark Elliot (Bill Holden) a war correspondant says to Soo Yin (The very lady-like and beautiful Jennifer Jones). Their first date is dinner celebrating the Chinese Moon Festival..They drive to the boating dock and take a rocky little chinese covered boat across the bay to a restaurant with a view of the bay, the enchanting golden moon, and fireworks, and chinese dragon festivities. Another beautiful line belonging to Soo Yin.."If we did not believe the unbelievable what would happen to fate?" And when he is leaving to cover the story of the war, he tells her not to be sad...she replies..."I won't be sad...sadness is so ungrateful." They have a favorite place atop a very high hill overlooking the water...she looks out and looks at him and states, "Hong Kong! the whord of a jewel thief.' Amid the theme song, the colors of the background, the beauty of Jennier Jones, and the smooth as velvet voice and all man character of William Holden...it's romance and art at it'a finest. This movie is what it is...A Many Splendored Thing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Poetry in Motion...(Picture,,,, that is)
Review: Besides the cinematography and unmatched cast of the two leading stars....the script was written so beautifully. Some of the lyrical lines such as, "I believe destiny has something in store for us." These are the some of the first romantic words Mark Elliot (Bill Holden) a war correspondant says to Soo Yin (The very lady-like and beautiful Jennifer Jones). Their first date is dinner celebrating the Chinese Moon Festival..They drive to the boating dock and take a rocky little chinese covered boat across the bay to a restaurant with a view of the bay, the enchanting golden moon, and fireworks, and chinese dragon festivities. Another beautiful line belonging to Soo Yin.."If we did not believe the unbelievable what would happen to fate?" And when he is leaving to cover the story of the war, he tells her not to be sad...she replies..."I won't be sad...sadness is so ungrateful." They have a favorite place atop a very high hill overlooking the water...she looks out and looks at him and states, "Hong Kong! the whord of a jewel thief.' Amid the theme song, the colors of the background, the beauty of Jennier Jones, and the smooth as velvet voice and all man character of William Holden...it's romance and art at it'a finest. This movie is what it is...A Many Splendored Thing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best love stories.
Review: Here is a simple love story, set in a beautiful setting, with a beautiful song. You feel like you are right there with Bill Holden and Jenifer Jones. The tragic ending is what caps it off. This is one movie you can savour many times.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Deeply touching and tragically moving
Review: I am a Beijing-born and American educated Chinese American man. If there is a movie that deeply touches my heart "Love is a many splendored thing" is definitely the one. Jennifer Jones so beautifully portrays Suyin, an Eurasian woman of Chinese descent that I thought she herself is half Chinese. How could an American actress capture the very essence of a Chinese woman so vividly?! The more I watched the movie, the more I was convinced that she must have some Chinese blood. I never felt that I was watching a movie. It was real to me! Her beauty, her character, and her acting skills perfectly match the story. She reminds me of exwife, a beautiful Chinese woman and my exgirl friend, a beautiful Americna woman. She combines beauties and strengths of both Chinese and American women. Where can you find a woman with such beauty and qualities in real life or in movies nowadays?!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I am very fond to see again.
Review: I do not want to say mor

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THIS MOVIE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING
Review: I have to admit that it is a pretty cheesy way and a cheap shot to market this film with a half naked William Holden holding a seemingly breathless Jennifer Jones.

But the movie is anything but cheesy and cheap.

Shot in breathtaking technicolor, Love Is A Many-Splendored THing opens with a spectacular aerial shot of Hong Kong in the early 1950s. We are introduced to Han Suyin, a doctor who is half chinese and half English. During a reception, she met Joe Gillis, an American reporter.

Suyin, being a widow, at first denied any attraction she feels for Joe, but eventually she gave in. But her relationship with Joe is blocked by obstcales, both social and political: Suyin's relationship with Joe threatens her position at the hospital she works, Joe's wife refuse to grant him a divorce, the communist threat on mainland China which puts Suyin's family in danger, and the Korean war brewing nearby, to which Joe may have to cover for his newspaper.

Jennifer Jones delivered one of the best performances of her career. Originally, she was supposed to don Asian makeup, when the tests turn out horrendous, Jennifer was allow to look the way she does, but she convincingly played a Eurasian on mannerism and speech alone. Her performance at the finale wrenches your heart.

As for the movie itself, it is best to watch it on DVD, because it is where you can watch it on widescreen. You get to see the movie without anybody's face being cut off, the pan and scan effect, and you can enjoy the amazing cinematography. I don't care for the theme song itself, but the instrumental version of it is romantic and uplifting.

Jones recieved an Oscar nomination for her performance, too bad she didn't win. But ultimately, nobody remember whom she lost the Oscar to, but they still remember this performance.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Love is a Many Splendered Thing
Review: If I'd been given the option of no stars I'd have taken it. This must be one of the worst films I've ever seen, even considering the period in which it was made. It is suffused with the most patronizing stereotypes and condescending dialogue, including the "how could the poor benighted Chinese do this to themselves" mentality that was so prevalent in the '50s. The dialogue is badly written and even more badly delivered. The crowning moment of absurdity, among many such moments, may be the scene in which Holden and Jones reach the climax of one of their many thoroughly unconvincing love scenes by having Holden light a cigarette, stick a cigarette in Jones' mouth, and stick the lit end of his cigarette dramatically against the end of her cigarette as the overwrought theme music rises in the background. May be worth watching for a good laugh, if you're into that sort of thing.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Love is a Many Splendered Thing
Review: If I'd been given the option of no stars I'd have taken it. This must be one of the worst films I've ever seen, even considering the period in which it was made. It is suffused with the most patronizing stereotypes and condescending dialogue, including the "how could the poor benighted Chinese do this to themselves" mentality that was so prevalent in the '50s. The dialogue is badly written and even more badly delivered. The crowning moment of absurdity, among many such moments, may be the scene in which Holden and Jones reach the climax of one of their many thoroughly unconvincing love scenes by having Holden light a cigarette, stick a cigarette in Jones' mouth, and stick the lit end of his cigarette dramatically against the end of her cigarette as the overwrought theme music rises in the background. May be worth watching for a good laugh, if you're into that sort of thing.


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