The World of Suzie Wong (film)

Last updated

The World of Suzie Wong
SuzieWongPoster.jpg
Original poster
Directed by Richard Quine
Written by John Patrick
Based on the play by Paul Osborn
Produced by Ray Stark
Starring William Holden
Nancy Kwan
Sylvia Syms
Michael Wilding
Cinematography Geoffrey Unsworth
Edited by Bert Bates
Music by George Duning
Production
companies
World Enterprises, Inc.
Worldfilm, Ltd
Paramount British Pictures, Ltd [1]
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
November 10, 1960 (US)
Running time
126 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2,000,000 [2]
Box office$7,300,000 (US and Canada) [3] [4]

The World of Suzie Wong is a 1960 British-American romantic drama film directed by Richard Quine and starring William Holden and Nancy Kwan. The screenplay by John Patrick was adapted from the 1958 stage play by Paul Osborn, which was based on the 1957 novel of the same title by Richard Mason.

Contents

Plot

American architect Robert Lomax is living Hong Kong for a year to try and make a living as an artist. While aboard a ferry he meets Mei Ling, a smartly dressed young woman who claims her father is wealthy. When the ferry docks, they part ways.

Robert looks for an inexpensive living place in a poor area known for prostitution. By chance, he sees Mei Ling leaving the run-down Nam Kok Hotel. When he inquires inside, the hotel owner replies that he does not know any Mei Ling, but he and Robert negotiate a monthly room rate. At the bar adjoining the hotel, Robert sees Mei Ling dressed in a slinky red cheongsam and with a sailor. He learns her real name is Suzie Wong, and she is the bar's most popular girl.

Suzie Wong with a sailor (screenshot from trailer) Nancy Kwan in The World of Suzie Wong (1960).jpg
Suzie Wong with a sailor (screenshot from trailer)

The following day, Robert visits a Western bank and sets up an account with banker Mr. O'Neill, who also provides him letters of introduction. His secretary and daughter, Kay, is immediately attracted to Robert.

Robert hires Suzie to pose for him. He eventually learns that she was forced into prostitution after being abandoned at ten years old. Suzie begins falling in love with Robert, but he dissuades her though continues using her as his muse. Meanwhile, Kay discretely pursues Robert. One night after a party at Kay's house, Robert invites her to see his paintings but is embarrassed to find Suzie on his bed. After Kay departs, Robert orders Suzie out. As she is leaving, a sailor who she spurned earlier that evening beats her in the stairwell. Enraged, Robert punches the sailor.

Suzy accepts her client Ben's offer to be his mistress to make Robert jealous. When Ben reconciles with his wife, he asks Robert to tell Suzie. She is so hurt by the rejection that Robert finally admits he loves her and asks her to stay with him.

Soon the couple is living together in the hotel, with Robert painting more enthusiastically than ever. Curious by Suzie's daily absences, he follows her up a hillside path to a small house. He finds Suzy visiting her infant son, whom she has kept hidden. Robert accepts the child.

Robert faces financial difficulties when his paintings fail to sell. Both Kay and Suzie offer him money, but he refuses. When Suzie pays his rent and wants to resume working as a prostitute to help him, he angrily drives her away. Robert quickly regrets his actions and spends days searching for Suzie. Meanwhile, Kay informs Robert that a painting of Suzie has sold in London. Robert reveals that he has lost Suzie. Kay, misunderstanding, says he can find another model; she romantically pursues Robert but he rebuffs her.

Robert finds Suzie waiting outside the hotel. She asks for his help to retrieve her son, who is in danger due to the heavy rains. Robert and Suzie force their way up the hillside house, but the baby has been killed in a landslide. After the temple ceremony for her son, Robert asks Suzie to marry him: she agrees and they leave the temple together.

Cast

Production

The film featured many scenes filmed in Hong Kong. Here, a screenshot of the film's trailer shows the fictional Nam Kok Hotel (Chinese: Nan Guo Da Jiu Dian ; Jyutping: naam4 gwok3 daai6 zau2 dim3) (inspired by the 1950s Hong Kong's Luk Kwok Hotel) in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. Shot location: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct,.mw-parser-output .geo-inline-hidden{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap} 22deg17'03''N 114deg09'01''E / 22.284156degN 114.150208degE / 22.284156; 114.150208 (Shooting location of fictional Nam Kok Hotel in the film "The World of Suzie Wong" (1960)) The World of Suzie Wong - Nam Kok Hotel.jpg
The film featured many scenes filmed in Hong Kong. Here, a screenshot of the film's trailer shows the fictional Nam Kok Hotel (Chinese :南國大酒店; Jyutping :naam4 gwok3 daai6 zau2 dim3) (inspired by the 1950s Hong Kong's Luk Kwok Hotel) in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. Shot location: 22°17′03″N114°09′01″E / 22.284156°N 114.150208°E / 22.284156; 114.150208 (Shooting location of fictional Nam Kok Hotel in the film "The World of Suzie Wong" (1960))

France Nuyen, who had played the role of Suzie Wong in the Broadway production opposite William Shatner [6] and was familiar to film audiences from her appearance in South Pacific , originally signed to reprise the role on screen. After five weeks of location shooting in Hong Kong, the cast and crew – including original director Jean Negulesco – moved to London to film interiors.

Nuyen was romantically involved with Marlon Brando, and rumors of his affair with Barbara Luna was causing her distress. She began overeating, and before long was unable to fit into the body-hugging silk cheongsams her character was required to wear. Unwilling to halt production until she could lose enough weight for the production's requirements, executive producer Ray Stark replaced her with Nancy Kwan, who was touring the United States and Canada as the understudy to the lead in the road company performing the play. Stark had auditioned her for the film but had felt that she was too inexperienced to handle the lead. [7]

Stark also fired the director, Negulesco, and replaced him with Richard Quine. Everyone involved in the completed Hong Kong scenes was required to return to reshoot them with Kwan, and all the unpublished publicity with Nuyen, including an article and photo layout for Esquire , had to be redone. [7]

The film's title song was written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen. Artist Dong Kingman acted as the film's technical advisor [8] and painted sets for the film. The movie features location filming in Hong Kong, and art direction and production design by John Box, Syd Cain, Liz Moore, Roy Rossotti and R. L. M. Davidson at MGM British Studios.

Sylvia Syms had just made Ferry to Hong Kong in Hong Kong. [9]

The film premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Locations

Although set in Wanchai, the film featured locations from around Hong Kong, sometimes misrepresenting their geographical proximity for cinematic effect. The film serves as a valuable historical record of 1960s Hong Kong. Locations seen in the film include Tsim Sha Tsui, Central/Sheung Wan (especially around Ladder Street), [10] Yau Ma Tei, Sai Ying Pun, Aberdeen and Telegraph Bay. [11]

Critical reception and reputation

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 38% based on eight reviews, with an average rating of 5.75 out of 10. [12]

When the film was released it attracted a mixed response. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times observed that sceptics could assume "that what we have here is a tale so purely idealized in the telling that it wafts into the realm of sheer romance. But the point is that idealization is accomplished so unrestrainedly and with such open reliance upon the impact of elemental clichés that it almost builds up the persuasiveness of real sincerity. Unless you shut your eyes and start thinking, you might almost believe it to be true." He added, "Mr. Patrick's screenplay contrives such a winning yum-yum girl that, even if she is invented, she's a charming little thing to have around . . . And a new girl named Nancy Kwan plays her so blithely and innocently that even the ladies should love her. She and the scenery are the best things in the film." [13]

Variety said, "Holden gives a first-class performance, restrained and sincere. He brings authority and compassion to the role. Kwan is not always perfect in her timing of lines (she has a tendency to anticipate) and appears to lack a full range of depth or warmth, but on the whole she manages a fairly believable portrayal." [14]

Some years after the film's release, the London listing magazine Time Out commented that because the film is "denied the chance of being honest about its subject, it soon degenerates into euphemistic soap opera, with vague gestures towards bohemianism and lukewarm titillation." [15]

In 2013, the Japanese American Citizens League called out Katy Perry's geisha-styled performance on the American Music Awards, as "the latest rendition of the bad movie we've all seen before. There is a persistent strain in our culture that refuses to move beyond the stereotype of Asian women as exotic and subservient. These stereotypes have been reinforced in our popular culture through plays and movies from our distant past such as Madame Butterfly and The World of Suzie Wong." [16]

Awards and nominations

Nancy Kwan was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama [17] but lost to Greer Garson in Sunrise at Campobello . George Duning was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score but lost to Dimitri Tiomkin for The Alamo .

Home media

The film was released on Region 1 DVD on June 29, 2004. It is in anamorphic widescreen format with an audio track and subtitles in English.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Days of Being Wild</i> 1990 Hong Kong film

Days of Being Wild is a 1990 Hong Kong drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-Wai. Starring some of the best-known actors and actresses in Hong Kong, including Leslie Cheung, Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Jacky Cheung and Tony Leung, the film marks the first collaboration between Wong and cinematographer Christopher Doyle, with whom he has since made six more films.

Richard Mason, published also under the pen name Richard Lakin, was a British novelist best known for his 1957 publication The World of Suzie Wong. His novels usually concerned Britons' experiences in exotic foreign locations, especially in Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Kwan</span> Chinese-American actress (born 1939)

Nancy Kwan Ka-shen is a Chinese-American actress. In addition to her personality and looks, her career benefited from Hollywood's casting of more Asian roles in the 1960s, especially in comedies. She was considered an Eastern sex symbol in the 1960s.

<i>The World of Suzie Wong</i> 1957 British novel

The World of Suzie Wong is a 1957 novel by British writer Richard Mason. The main characters are Robert Lomax, a young British artist living in Hong Kong, and Suzie Wong, the title character, a Chinese woman who works as a prostitute. The novel has been adapted into a play and spawned two unofficial sequels, a film, and a ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">France Nuyen</span> French-American actress, model, and psychological counselor (b. 1939)

France Nuyen is a French-American actress, model, and psychological counselor. She is known to film audiences for playing romantic leads in South Pacific (1958), Satan Never Sleeps (1962), and A Girl Named Tamiko, and for playing Ying-Ying St. Clair in The Joy Luck Club (1993). She also originated the title role in the Broadway play The World of Suzie Wong, based on the novel of the same name. She is a Theatre World Award winner and Golden Globe Award nominee.

<i>Whatever Will Be, Will Be</i> (1995 film) 1995 Hong Kong film

Whatever Will Be, Will Be is a 1995 Hong Kong musical and drama film directed by Jacob Cheung and starring Aaron Kwok and Kelly Chen, the latter in her debut film role.

<i>New Police Story</i> 2004 Hong Kong film

New Police Story is a 2004 Hong Kong action thriller film produced and directed by Benny Chan, starring Jackie Chan, Nicholas Tse, Charlie Yeung, Charlene Choi, Daniel Wu and Wang Chieh. The film was released in the Hong Kong on 24 September 2004.

<i>The Banquet</i> (1991 film) 1991 Hong Kong film

The Banquet, also known as Party of a Wealthy Family, is a 1991 Hong Kong comedy film. It was quickly filmed for a Hong Kong flood relief charity, after the Yangtze River flooded in July of that year, killing over 1,700 people and displacing many more in the eastern and southern regions of mainland China.

<i>Looking Back in Anger</i> Hong Kong television drama series

Looking Back in Anger was a 1989 Hong Kong TV series and one of the most watched TVB series by Chinese people in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and around the world. Many factors contributed to the success of this series. As well as its tragic but memorable storyline, the series featured a strong cast, with Felix Wong, Deric Wan, Carina Lau, Kathy Chow Hoi-Mei and Maggie Shiu. The popular theme song of the series "Yat sang ho kau" (一生何求) was sung by Danny Chan and later by Deric Wan himself.

<i>To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shens Journey</i> 2009 film

To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen's Journey is a 2009 docudrama about actress Nancy Kwan. Directed and written by former Warner Bros. executive Brian Jamieson, the film depicts Kwan's meteoric rise to fame when she was selected to star in the 1960 film The World of Suzie Wong and the 1961 film Flower Drum Song. In an era when White people played the Asian roles in Hollywood, Kwan's achievement was groundbreaking. The film portrays Kwan's being cast for inconspicuous roles after her early success.

<i>97 Aces Go Places</i> 1997 Hong Kong film

97 Aces Go Places is a 1997 Hong Kong action comedy film directed by Chin Kar-lok and starring Alan Tam, Tony Leung, Christy Chung, Donna Chu and Francis Ng. The film is the sixth and final installment of the Aces Go Places film series and features a different cast and storyline. It is the first film in the series to not feature Samuel Hui or Karl Maka as the main characters.

<i>Behind Silk Curtains</i> Hong Kong TV series or program

Behind Silk Curtains is a 1988 Hong Kong grand production serial drama produced by TVB featuring an ensemble cast from the TV station including veteran actors Adam Cheng, Liza Wang, Ray Lui and future award-winning cinematic stars Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Stephen Chow.

<i>Thanks for Your Love</i> 1996 Hong Kong film

Thanks for Your Love is a 1996 Hong Kong romantic comedy film produced and directed by David Yu and Norman Law and starring Andy Lau and Rosamund Kwan.

<i>Have Sword, Will Travel</i> 1969 film

Have Sword, Will Travel is a 1969 Hong Kong wuxia film directed by Chang Cheh and starring Ti Lung, David Chiang and Lee Ching.

<i>Wars of Bribery</i> Hong Kong TV series or program

Wars of Bribery is a 1996 Hong Kong crime television series produced by TVB that aired on its channel TVB Jade from 10 June to 5 July 1996. This drama is also that final series that stars Aaron Kwok and Athena Chu filmed for the television station.

<i>Duel for Gold</i> 1971 Hong Kong film

Duel for Gold is a 1971 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Chor Yuen and produced by Shaw Brothers Studio, starring Ivy Ling Po, Lo Lieh, Chin Han, Wang Ping, Tsung Hua and Chen Chun. The screenplay was written by Ni Kuang.

<i>The Fun, the Luck & the Tycoon</i> 1990 Hong Kong film

The Fun, the Luck & the Tycoon is a 1990 Hong Kong comedy film directed by Johnnie To. It starred Chow Yun-fat, Sylvia Chang, Nina Li Chi and Lawrence Cheng. It is an adaptation of Coming to America.

<i>Come Home Love: Lo and Behold</i> 2017 Hong Kong sitcom

Come Home Love: Lo and Behold, alternately known as Come Home Love: Happy Courrier, is a 2017 daily half-hour Hong Kong sitcom created by TVB, starring Lau Dan, Angela Tong, Koni Lui, Stanley Cheung, Pal Sinn, Mandy Lam, Andrea So, Joyce Tang and Kalok Chow. It is produced by Law Chun-ngok who also produced the three previous Come Home Love.

The World of Suzie Wong is a 1958-premiered stage play, adapted from the eponymous 1957 novel by Richard Mason, The World of Suzie Wong. The play was in turn adapted into the 1960 Hollywood British-American feature film The World of Suzie Wong. The novel was adapted into a play by playwright Paul Osborn. It is one of the major elements of the Suzie Wong franchise.

References

  1. ↑ The World of Suzie Wong at the American Film Institute Catalog
  2. ↑ "Terms Kayo Par Buy of Stark's 'Suzie' Equity". Variety. October 5, 1960. p. 3.
  3. ↑ "All-time top film grossers", Variety 8 January 1964 p 37. Please note this figure is rentals accruing to film distributors not total money earned at the box office.
  4. ↑ "1961 Rentals and Potential". Variety. January 10, 1961. p. 13.
  5. ↑ "Suzie Wong, Revisited". Forbes. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
  6. ↑ The Broadway League. "Internet Broadway Database". Ibdb.com. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  7. 1 2 Feldman, Edward S., Tell Me How You Love the Picture. New York: St. Martin's Press 2005. ISBN   0-312-34801-0. pp. 43–51.
  8. ↑ designformation (May 12, 2000). "More About". Dong Kingman. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  9. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (February 22, 2023). "The Surprisingly Saucy Cinema of Sylvia Syms". Filmink. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  10. ↑ Lai, Linda Chiu-Han (2013). "Many-Splendored Things". In Chiu-Han Lai, Linda Chiu-Han; Choi, Kimburley Wing-yee (eds.). World Film Locations: Hong Kong. Intellect Books. p. 45. ISBN   9781783200214.
  11. ↑ Gwulo: The World of Suzie Wong
  12. ↑ "The World of Suzie Wong (1960)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  13. ↑ Crowther, Bosley (November 11, 1960). "The Screen: 'World of Suzie Wong'". New York Times.
  14. ↑ "Variety review". Variety. December 31, 1959. Archived from the original on September 19, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Time Out London review". Time Out. London. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  16. ↑ "JACL Statement on Katy Perry AMA Performance". Press Statement. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Nancy Kwan". www.goldenglobes.com. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.