TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Tad Pole . . . says Megan Davis, some sort of United Nations High Commissioner, about 59 minutes, 20 seconds into THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN. Her assistant, Mr. Jones, has just pegged China's 1932 population at about 500 million people. No rat census figures are provided here, perhaps because THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN depicts a densely disordered den of disastrously deplorable, devious, and depraved denizens posing a ticking time bomb challenge to Western Civilization and Human Culture, aka Humanity. Though Columbia Pictures tried to warn our USA Homeland of the Chinese Menace at a Historic Juncture when the problem could have been handled by a few thousand kegs of "BITTER TEA" (think the Kool-Aid vats at Jonestown), a series of Weak Presidents have allowed this Cess Pool to Fester. Breeding like rabbits, China's burgeoning head count is now A BILLION AND A HALF (again, that's just the Homo Sapiens, NOT the rodents!). No country should be permitted to have more people than our USA. This is only common sense. We cannot and MUST NOT allow ourselves to become outnumbered! (Even Gen. Yen thought he was having the last laugh, with American Megan clearly unaware of this First Principle of Military Defense.) Now, as Rocket "Man" Kim--China's rocking horsey stocking horse boy--threatens us daily, it's highly gratifying to know that we can rely upon Leader Trump to deal appropriately with the Chinese Peril ONCE AND FOR ALL. There's not enough Bitter Tea left in China to do the trick, but Leader Trump has bunkers full of nukes, and his fingers are hovering over The Button as I type!

dimplet Frank Capra made an artistic masterpiece in The Bitter Tea of General Yen, but it didn't make money. So a year later, with Columbia near bankruptcy, Capra made a smash hit, It Happened One Night and saved the studio. So Capra makes more hits, and some reviewers here act like he sold out. I wonder which films they saw?Actually, Bitter Tea foreshadows themes that we will see in most of Capra's films: the powerful vs. the powerless, money and how it corrupts, idealism and the obstacles to its realization. Capra was ahead of his time with many of his movies, often outraging the establishment. This was obvious in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but also in Meet John Doe, which features a remarkably Rupert Murdoch-like villain, and The State of the Union, which was 20 years ahead of The Candidate.Bitter Tea must also have been outrageously ahead of its time, offending Christians and Americans, not to mention Chinese. The cinematography by Joseph Walker is unusually beautiful and polished for 1933. But as he would work on most of Capra's movies, this does not make Bitter Tea exceptional, beyond that the print may have been better preserved than some. I find it strange that some would call this movie dated. The setting of 1930s civil war China is dated, but not the movie. I could imagine this movie remade by Steven Spielberg today with modern equipment, and he wouldn't need to change much.But what is so remarkable about Bitter Tea is the literary richness of the story. What we have here is the ideas of Nicolo Machiavelli in movie form. It is the story of the prince, who has power and ideals, but must also be prepared to wield naked power to achieve his goals. And it is the story of the naive unarmed prophet, who has ideals but no power, and no understanding of the worldly mechanisms for achieving those ideals. Those who have read and understood Machiavelli will understand this film.This is a must see film for fans of Frank Capra (I've seen 11 of his films). If you get this far, you might want to read Capra's autobiography, where he talks about the film. Spoiler alert:The result is that the naive missionary unintentionally wrecks the plans of the general, whom she learns too late might have accomplished great things.I love the ending. The Christian missionary vows she will never leave General Yen's side for the rest of his life. He promptly drinks poison. The ending, a suicide, was surely one reason this film wasn't the box office success Capra hoped for. I've seen many smart aleck critics say John Doe should have jumped on Christmas, and I've tried to imagine how this would have made Meet John Doe a better movie. Capra had already tried the suicide ending, and it was the right ending for Bitter Tea. But it would have been the wrong ending for Meet John Doe.

Jackson Booth-Millard I didn't actually know it was from director Frank Capra (It's a Wonderful Life) till I actually started watching it, it featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, that is why I watched. Set during the Chinese Civil War, American missionary Megan Davis (Double Indemnity's Barbara Stanwyck) arrives in Shanghai to marry Dr. Robert 'Bob' Strike (Gavin Gordon), but they postpone the wedding to rescue orphans from an orphanage burning in the battlefield. The group are separated in the chaos, and Megan faints, waking in the palace of the man who saved/kidnapped her, warlord General Yen (Nils Asther). The General's mistress Mah-Li (Toshia Mori) gets close to Megan, and he accuses her of betraying him, giving enemies classified information. He falls for Megan, and does spare Mah-Li's life, which doesn't make his financial adviser Jones (Walter Connolly) very happy. Megan does slowly start to fall for the cruel, powerful and gentle General, but Mah-Li did in fact betray him and has destroyed his empire, and Megan watches him kill himself with his last (poisoned) bitter tea. Also starring Lucien Littlefield as Mr. Jacobson, Richard Loo as Captain Li, Clara Blandick as Mrs. Jackson, Moy Ming as Dr. Lin, Robert Wayne as Reverend Bostwick, Knute Erickson as Dr. Hansen, Ella Hall as Mrs. Amelia Hansen, Arthur Millett as Mr. Pettis, Helen Jerome Eddy as Miss Reed and Martha Mattox as Miss Avery. Stanwyck does very well as the lead female character, and Swedish actor Asther is superbly subtle as the nasty General, and there are some eye-catching moments, such as the battle sequences, so it is an impressive classic drama. Very good!

wes-connors Barbara Stanwyck (as Megan Davis) arrives in Shanghai, to marry missionary Gavin Gordon (as Bob Strike). Instead, she falls in love with a sexy Chinese warlord, Nils Asther (as General Yen), who is winds up holding her prisoner. Frank Capra's "The Bitter Tea of General Yen" isn't as offensive as it appears, on the surface; although, the story is, ultimately, unsatisfactory.Still, it's a fine looking production, with beautiful direction and photography (Joseph Walker). Ms. Stanwyck and Mr. Asther perform their sexual attraction marvelously; their characterizations are worthy of "Best Actress" and "Best Actor" consideration. And, supporting actress Toshia Mori (as Mah-Li) makes it a passionate threesome - when the three of them share a scene, on Asther's train, every movement sizzles.******* The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1/6/33) Frank Capra ~ Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther, Walter Connolly, Toshia Mori