China Girl

I'm a big fan of George Montgomery films--and he looks rugged & handsome, as always, in this one. Both Gene Tierney & Lynn Bari fall in love with him and, frankly, who can blame them. He plays an American newsreel cameraman in Burma & China just prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. After escaping from a Japanese prison, he goes to Mandalay where he meets & falls in love with Gene Tierney. He has a booklet containing some vital military info--so there are spy's on his trail. George Montgomery had a long Hollywood career & he was always interesting to watch (and,frankly, I see little comparison between him & Mr. Gable

I'm a big Gene Tierney fan, so I tuned into this one with some eagerness, hoping to see a film that captured pre-WWII tensions in SE Asia and gave the luscious actress some room to shine. And while Gene does have a few moments of brilliance, the rest of the film is a mish-mash of good and bad elements. The whole is somewhat less than satisfying.

My biggest problem is that this film doesn't really know what it wants to be: action movie, spy/war thriller, romance, drama, or anti-Japanese war propaganda. The script tries to be all things to all people and ends up satisfying no one. Plot elements are left hanging unresolved. One line of tough guy dialog is followed by another trying to stir hearts about the plight of the Chinese nationalists. What a mess! George Montgomery is a poor man's Clark Gable, and he's almost a caricature in this film - tough guy only looking out for himself who falls hard for a "dame" caught up in the mess that was China and Burma in 1941. Though Tierney gets top billing, it's really Montgomery's film, and he's not up to carrying it. He's pretty good at the action stuff, but he's lost in the romantic scenes. Plus, his comedic timing is way off. It doesn't help him that the screenwriter gave him some terribly cheesy dialog.

There is little depth to any of the supporting cast, although Robert Blake gives a scene-stealing performance as a young Burmese kid (of all things) that pals around with our hero in Mandalay.

There are some good elements here - some exotic shots that appear to be on location (if they're backlot, they fooled me), and a wonderful set in the hotel in Mandalay. The action scenes often move well. The movie doesn't pull punches, either - we see Chinese civilians being mowed down by Japanese machine guns, and our hero crawls across a ditch of dead bodies in an early escape scene. This is more grim than I expected from a film more than 60 years old, and it's effectively done.

But overall, I can't recommend this film to hardly anyone. There are better films about Japanese brutality in SE Asia during WWII ("Bridge on the River Kwai" or "Objective, Burma") and certainly better films for Tierney fans (my recs - "Laura", "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir", and "Leave Her to Heaven"). Give this one a pass and consign it to the history books.

China Girl is about an American newsreel cameraman, Johnny Williams (George Montgomery). The Japanese military in a Japanese occupied part of China detained him and hire him to photograph the building of the Burma Road. Johnny steals what he believes are press credentials- instead, they are the military orders for Pearl Harbor.

While they are holding him, he manages to escape with the help of a Canadian soldier (Victor Mclaglen) and his friend (Lynn Bari).

Later, he meets an old friend who wants him to join the Flying Tigers. But Johnny is out for Johnny, offering several people 50 percent of what he will make for Burma Road footage if they will stake him and buy him equipment, as the Japanese confiscated his.

Unaware that the Japanese are desperate to have their orders returned and are after him, he falls head over heels for gorgeous Haoli (Gene Tierney) who is half-Chinese. They fall in love, but she is committed to helping her father (Philip Ahn) with his school in Kunming. Learning the Japanese are en route to attack Kunming, Johnny rushes to save her.

Somewhat convoluted plot, though the end is very powerful. Gene Tierney doesn't have much to do but look ravishing until the film is nearly over.

George Montgomery was one handsome hunk of man, a former prizefighter with a magnificent physique, an architect, and known for the beautiful bronze busts he made. One small problem. He couldn't act his way out of a phone booth.

This role called for him to be cynical. Well, every line came out of the side of his mouth, no variation. Not that the dialogue, peppered with babes, dames, all the slang of the day helped.

Directed by Henry Hathaway, and very routine.

During the early days after America's entry into WWII, Hollywood cranked up the pro-war propaganda machine to both explain and justify our late participation and urgent need to catch up in the global battle against fascism. This pre-Pearl Harbor story concerns one he-man opportunist's efforts to juggle the bad guys and bad (?) girls with questionable motives. At times it looks like a film noir and other times a spy romance/melodrama, but with cynical dialogue by the master Ben Hecht and tough-guy direction by Henry Hathaway, this chop suey has enough meat and potatoes to satisfy. Example of the catchy language: George Montgomery says to sexy Lynn Bari, "I like you because you're everything a girl should be, 115 pounds of lies, venom and kisses." Another line has spy Victor McLaglen reporting the only Japanese he could translate from a secret document was the number 7 and the word Pearl!!! Oh - and the reason most folks will be watching - the China Girl, Gene Tierney is scrumptious!

The beginning is really convoluted, with the way Ms. Haoli (Gene Tierney) allows a complete stranger to carry her package, this after having told him it was glass vases worth over $15,000! The whole falling in love etc was also contrived. But one can look past all this (after all, it was the charming way they often made movies in the 1940s, in order not to waste time and precious film reel!) because, whenever Gene Tierney is onscreen, whichever the film, she truly elevates the quality by her simple presence. With no offense meant to Jaclyn Smith, Gene Tierney had to be the most beautiful woman Hollywood has ever filmed! Not only that, she was a magnificent actress. She was very underrated and should have been way more famous, certainly way more than many of her era who were neither lookers nor could act (Bette Davis, I'm looking at you here!) I have been very disappointed by most stars from the Golden Age but Gene delivers every time.

The other stunning presence here is delivered by the little Indian boy, Chandu (or Gunga Din, as the character played by Robert Montgomery's unbrother George nicknames him). He steals every scene, he is adorable. His eyes are sparkling and light up every time his disarming smile brightens up his handsome face. I looked him up, wondering if he made a successful career back home, in Bollywood. Imagine my shock and horror when I learned that that was none other than Baretta's murdering protagonist, Robert Blake. Hmm....

There is one man (character Jujubi or something like that) who is evidently trying for an impression of Sydney Greenstreet. Similar bearing, dressed all in white, sits the same way, same gravitas and pauses in delivering his lines. Can't be a coincidence! This being 1942, the year of Casablanca, I wonder how the original took it. (Maybe they couldn't afford him and went for a knockoff?) He's also a pretty good addition, here.

Anyway, the ending is disappointing, and part of why I don't give it an 8/10. I expected a Gene living happily together with George and the little cute Indian boy. Alas, that was not to be. (You'll have to find out by watching what happens to each and everyone of them.) Nevertheless, this movie is much better than most B movies of that era starring lesser and very boring (but more famous) actresses than Gene Tierney. This reminds me to watch everything she ever starred in. Well worth my time, and I hope you'll find her very worth yours too. Gene's performance is a 10/10 (as is Robert Blake's) but the movie is only a 7/10 (and would probably have been a 4/10 without the lady!)