China
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
John Farrow
Loretta Young
Alan Ladd
William Bendix
Philip Ahn
Iris Wong
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In 1941, in Mei-Ki, China, war profiteer David Jones narrowly escapes with his life when Chinese Captain Tao-Yuan-Kai arrests him for selling oil to the Japanese but releases him because he is American. Japanese planes bomb the town, and Jones drives toward Shanghai with his partner, Johnny Sparrow, who has brought with him an orphaned baby boy. After nightfall, they are forced to stop because Chinese refugees crowd the road and beat the Americans until Carolyn Grant, an American schoolteacher born in China, tells them to stop. Carolyn sneaks her group of female college students into the back of Jones's truck and insists that Jones proceed without headlights because they might be sighted by Japanese bombers. As she has an intimate knowledge of the local terrain, Carolyn takes over driving the truck, and has her friend, Lin Wei, sit on the hood to watch for potholes. When Jones realizes that Carolyn has loaded his truck with refugees, he ruthlessly starts to throw them out, fearing that the extra load will use up the gas he needs to get to Shanghai, but relents when he learns that the students are young women. Along the road the next day, they encounter Lin Wei's first and second brothers, Lin Cho and Lin Yun, who have formed a guerrilla band and are posing as peasants. Lin Cho warns them to take an alternate road, as the Japanese are approaching, and Jones reluctantly heads the truck to the family farm of Tan Ying, a girl he tried to throw off the truck. At the farm, Carolyn tries again to persuade Jones to take the students to Chungtu, where they can continue their studies, rather than Japanese-occupied Shanghai, but Jones is unconcerned with the struggle of the Chinese, and refuses. After Johnny leaves the baby, whom he has dubbed "Donald Duck," with Tan Ying's family for safekeeping, the journey resumes. They are forced to abandon the truck when Japanese planes strafe the road, but Lin Cho and his compatriots shoot the plane down. When Carolyn discovers that Tan Ying has slipped off the bus to rejoin her family, she insists on returning for her. While the rest of the group hikes to a monastery, Jones and Carolyn drive back to the farm and are shocked to find that the Japanese have burned the farm, and murdered Tan Ying's parents and Donald Duck. Jones then finds three Japanese soldiers raping Tan Ying, and shoots them without hesitation, while Carolyn comforts the hysterical woman. After the group takes refuge in the monastery, Tan Ying dies. Finally cognizant of the nature of the Chinese struggle, Jones is now inspired to join the fight against the Japanese, and offers his help to the three brothers. They determine that they must close a mountain pass in order to prevent the further onslaught of the Japanese, but only the Japanese army has the necessary dynamite. That night, Jones, Johnny, Lin Wei, Lin Cho and Lin Yun swim across a river to raid a Japanese encampment and steal the dynamite. When their presence is detected, a fierce gun battle ensues, during which Lin Wei, and all but two other guerrillas, are killed. Before he dies, Lin Wei honors Jones by calling him his "fourth brother." That night, Carolyn rejects Johnny's marriage proposal because she is in love with Jones, and later, the new lovers Jones and Carolyn spend a final night together. The next day, the small band of fighters places the dynamite along the mountain pass road. When the Japanese convoy appears early, Jones stops them on the road to give the guerrillas time to lay the dynamite, and pretends that he is stranded. The Japanese general explains to Jones that Japan has just bombed Pearl Harbor in the United States, and that their intention is to create a new world order. After the general's second-in-command shoots Jones, the Chinese set off the dynamite causing an avalanche that buries the Japanese troops, and closes the road. Carolyn and Johnny mourn the loss of their friend as they drive the students to Chungtu.
Director
John Farrow
Cast
Loretta Young
Alan Ladd
William Bendix
Philip Ahn
Iris Wong
Sen Yung
Marianne Quon
Jessie Tai Sing
Richard Loo
Irene Tso
Chingwah Lee
Soo Yong
Beal Wong
Bruce Wong
Tala Birell
Barbara Jean Wong
Grace Lung
Sione Maldonado
Julia Mei
May Yook Louie
Shirley Lew
Doris Young
Janet Quon
Betty Quon
Lorlay Quon
Edith Quon
Frances Chan
Doris Chan
Mary Oh Young
Mae Don
Ethel Lee
Hazel Jay
Melie Chang
Chester Gan
Sammee Tong
Wilbur Tai Sing
Benson Fong
Clarence Lung
Severino V. Moya
Eddie Lee
George T. Lee
Paul Fung
Tom Ung
Alex Havier
Crew
Richard Blumenthal
W. Broadfoot
Russ Brown
Frank Butler
Harry Caplan
Tom Chauncey
Herb Coleman
T. Coleman
Sam Comer
Jerry Cook
Roger Creed
Glen Daniels
Kenneth Deland
George Dockstader
Hans Dreier
Jimmy Dundee
Farciot Edouart
Leslie Fong
Harve Foster
Helena Gin-chiu-kuo
George Gottlieber
Bertram Granger
Virginia Griffith
Tom Hadley
Hazel Haggerty
Harry Hallenberger
C. Harlinger
Edith Head
Peggy Higgins
G. Hirsch
Walter Hoffman
Harry Hogan
Wei F. Hsueh
Gordon Jennings
Don Johnson
Gana Jones
H. Kessler
Leroy Kreuger
Norman Lacey
Art Lasky
Ernest Laszlo
J. Lefert
Sam Levine
Eugene Liggett
Frank Lindsay Jr.
Nellie Manley
Bob Mayo
Maudlee Mcdougall
Ray Moyer
Wallace Nogle
C. Norton
Harry Osborne
D. Ottis
Webb Overlander
Edward Padula
Hal Pereira
Harry Perry
Floyd Pruitt
Edward J. Ralph
William Rand
Roland Ray
Don Robb
Oscar Rudolph
Leonora Sabine
Fred Schaeffer
Everett Smith
Leo Tover
Fred True
Robert Usher
Hal Walker
Eda Warren
Jerry Welch
Wally Westmore
Ethel Wong
Murray Young
Victor Young
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
I knew a girl like you once. She had an act in a circus. Used to crack a whip and make lions jump through paper hoops.- Mr. Jones
And you prefer the lipstick sort, huh?- Carolyn Grant
Yes, mostly because I don't like jumping through paper hoops.- Mr. Jones
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was The Fourth Brother. A September 1942 studio synopsis includes the following plot description: After her rape, "Tan Ying" drowns herself, and later the characters "Kwan Su" and "Lin Cho" marry, but are killed by the avalanche. It has not been determined if these scenes, which were not in the released film, were ever shot. According to Hollywood Reporter, Helen Gin-Chiu-Kuo, who is listed in the Paramount Collection at the AMPAS Library as a Chinese hair consultant, was a Chinese journalist and book author. Madeline Chang, the daughter of diplomat Henry K. Chang, was tested for a role in the picture. According to information in the Paramount Collection, a Chinese song called "Work as One" is used as background music in the film, but the composers have not been identified. Alan Ladd and photographer Leo Tover were inducted into the Army after completing work on China. Some scenes were shot on location in Apache Trail and Phoenix, AZ and in San Gabriel Canyon, Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, and Big Tujunga in CA. Ladd, Loretta Young, William Bendix and Philip Ahn reprised their roles in a November 22, 1943 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast of the story.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States June 10, 1997
Released in United States on Video June 10, 1997
b&w
Released in United States June 10, 1997
Released in United States on Video June 10, 1997
