The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)

I was a bit wary of watching an old Hollywood movie set in China. Fortunately, the serious subject matter and basis on a true story help keep it from being all that politically incorrect. Yes, Robert Donat has his last role as one of the most prominent "Chinese" characters, and Curd Jürgens looks no more half-Chinese than John Carradine from "Kung Fu," but they don't ham it up. I'm more offended at the casting of Ingrid Bergman, who, for all her good acting, has way too thick an accent to pass for a pure Englishwoman and reportedly looks nothing like the real Gladys Aylward.

Aylward's story itself threatens to offend viewers. I mean, this lone Brit with little preparation -- a missionary, no less -- makes a big, apparently highly positive difference for hundreds of Chinese in the '30s. It's not clear that she converts many, but she certainly sets an example with values not common to the area at the time. By gaining favor with, among others, the local official called the Mandarin (partly with her lack of allegiances before going native, like Lawrence of Arabia, and partly by inadvertently amusing with exoticism), she brings about a reduction in foot binding, an improvement of prisons, and other reforms. In the end, she saves many young lives in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Yeah, not a whole lot that concerns the quirkily named inn. If you can accept such a tale, as I did, you'll probably find it touching.

I'm not so concerned with the elements of romance, which don't become a focus for long, tho the real Aylward found them a disappointing exaggeration. The bulk of the tenderness is born of adversity. Aylward witnesses quite a few deaths and other miseries before long, just as stinging to a modern audience as to a contemporary one. None of them shake her faith or her compassion. At first I got annoyed at her frequently following her heart when a brain would say otherwise (e.g., hardly saving any money before taking a dangerous route to China, adopting children on a whim as soon as she finds them in need), but she makes it all work out. That takes a strength I might never have.

You might find the film dated in key ways, or you might see parallels in recent cinema that you only wish were dated. Me, I like the timeless aspects enough to forgive the rest.