There’s a new man in town. And he’s charming the locals in spite of idiosyncratic ways & a serious lack of expertise in his claimed profession. Truth is, he’s a fake, making it up as he goes along and just getting away with it. But he’s also caught the eye of that pretty single gal while raising suspicions from the town’s leading couple. No secret to us, he’s confessed his plan to a fellow professional even while spreading tidbits of joy to people he meets in town. He’s even got the kids learning a catchy foreign tune by ear. (Cue sentimental reprise of said tune at the finale when the authorities finally catch up to him and send him packing.) Sure sounds like THE MUSIC MAN, no? But we’re not in Iowa anymore. (Heck, we’re not even in Kansas.) Nope, Mainland China, 1949, Catholic Missionary in place of a Marching Band and Humphrey Bogart as a phony priest on the run from Lee J. Cobb’s powerful warlord. (Cobb the only Caucasian masquerading as Asian in here, and thankfully with minimal YellowFace makeup.*) Bogart & Gene Tierney do nicely playing the suppressed passion routine, but Bogie’s less convincing putting off mass week after week, stumbling thru a prayer & a sermon while speaking more Chinese (Mandarin?) than Latin. You’d think someone would notice. Director Edward Dmytryk wisely doesn’t linger long enough for anyone to think this thru (a two-hour story arc compressed to 87 minutes), and he’s much helped by Franz Planer’s handsome lensing. Ultimately, it’s all a bit silly, but pleasant, even fun.
DOUBLE-BILL: Big budget post-WWII Chinese Missionary stories oddly popular at the time. At 20th/Fox alone, splashy CinemaScope productions of LEFT HAND, INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS/’58 and SATAN NEVER SLEEPS/’62.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *See Cobb do full YellowFace duty in ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM/’46.
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