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• The Bitter Tea of General YEN

  • Rita Lovett
  • 2019-03-13

  This movie deals with the many facets of human nature in the best possible state but also in the fallen state! The General seems to be the main personality whose reign has been challenged with so many troubles that seem impossible to overcome! His infatuation with a Missionary comes to a very surprising conclusion and adds some mystery to the viewers who expect the General to succumb to her wit ,charm and beauty! He defines love and romance as an affair of the heart and not force from a gentleman! She defines love as mercy and grace to those who least deserve it! The movie deals with betrayal, unfaithfulness , and Chinese cultural affairs! The American Finance Officer to the General offers very little help to the captured missionary who is in love and wants to leave General YEN! After all is said and done, the movie leaves you captivated by all the many twists and turns that this brilliant script offers to the surprises of life! Riding HIGH one day and searching for meaning after all! What does it take to add meaning to your life? The General Yen found peace in a very strange way but he did win some distant hearts! He said to be despised by the one that you love is the most miserable state of affairs! What a surprise ending to a beautiful soul! Love is a many splendid thing! Sought by all but found by few! General Yen should have won an Oscar for his part convinced us that romance is the KEY to a woman's heart! Even a heathen can attest to that! The missionary said that anyone can love those who love them! We need that Agape love for each other!

• Question about Frank Capra

  • Bev Meier
  • 2015-11-15

  Does anyone know where/how I might find a copy of Capra's short story from which"Westward the Women" was made?

• The Art of Frank Capra

  • Ron
  • 2014-01-16

  If you look at Capra's later work in the 40's, which involved the idealized American ethic, and compare it to his earlier work in the 30's, you can see a difference. Yes both the 30's and 40's had human elements and emotion, but no director ever tackled subjects like Capra did in the 30's. What seems strange is that his own personal political views seemed at odds with what he was portraying on the screen in his later work. If one was to watch "You Can't Take It With You," you would think that he was a liberal progressive, yet he was not. His later bibliographical comments about the change in the attitude of the motion picture industry as well as a jaded public, I think are partially correct. However, he viewed America in an idealized fashion, and saw strength of character during the Great Depression that was later lost after WWII. When we all look back at the generation of the 30's and 40's we do see a sense of identity that is missing today. Of course we all know that America was far from perfect, and even the early TV shows of the 50's like "Father Knows Best" were idealized versions of Americana during Jim Crow. Still, it's hard not to watch a Frank Capra film, and walk away from it unmoved. To this day, whenever I watch "The Bitter Tea Of General Yen," or any Frank Capra film, it's as if I am getting a lesson on human nature, and how we can better understand each other.

• The Art of Frank Capra

  • Ron
  • 2014-01-16

  If you look at Capra's later work in the 40's, which involved the idealized American ethic, and compare it to his earlier work in the 30's, you can see a difference. Yes both the 30's and 40's had human elements and emotion, but no director ever tackled subjects like Capra did in the 30's. What seems strange is that his own personal political views seemed at odds with what he was portraying on the screen. If one was to watch "You Can't Take It With You," you would think that he was a liberal progressive, yet he was not. His later bibliographical comments about the change in the attitude of the motion picture industry as well as a jaded public, I think are partially correct. However, he viewed America in an idealized fashion, and saw strength of character during the Great Depression that was later lost after WWII. When we all look back at the generation of the 30's and 40's we do see a sense of identity that is missing today. Of course we all know that it was far from perfect, and even the early TV shows of the 50'd like "Father Knows Best" were idealized versions of Americana. Still, it's hard not to watch a Frank Capra film, and not walk away from it moved. To this day, whenever I watch "The Bitter Tea Of General Yen," or any Frank Capra film, it's as if I am getting a lesson on human nature, and how we can better understand each other.

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