Film: "Dragon Seed" (1944)

[Bob Pr.]

This film was shown today at the KU Alums' society group of retired faculty/staff/associates in its monthly film series; this is the 2nd of 3 films we've seen based on the novels of Pearl Buck.

"Dragon Seed" (1944) 147 min, B&W. Rated 6.3 of 10 stars in IMDb. Dragon Seed (1944) - IMDb Starring Katherine Hepburn, Walter Huston, adapted from Pearl Buck's novel of the same name.

Ling Tan (Huston) is a Chinese farmer with a daughter and 3 younger adult sons. His daughter is married to a merchant in town who sells many Japanese goods, his sons work on the family farm. One of his sons, Er Tan, is married to Jade (Hepburn) who differs from the traditional Chinese wife in that she can read and write and seems in the vanguard of a women's lib movement.

The village they live in is peaceful until the Japanese invasion, previously 100s of miles away, moves into their area. The son-in-law merchant becomes a Japanese collaborator. Ling Tan's sons leave the farm (with Jade) to fight with the resistance and eventually return to fight the Japanese with guerilla warfare.

This film, made in 1944 (in WW-II), was not only for domestic consumption but also for distribution to American troops in all theaters of the war. Its aims are quite obvious: to make a successful domestic movie that would also fan the motivation of both the armed forces and civilians at home to defeat the Japanese. Some rapes of Chinese women (sounds are obvious, off camera) and blatant murders of other innocent Chinese are present. The movie ends, not with the defeat of the Japanese, but with a concerted, cooperative effort by the villagers (under the instigation of Ling Tan's sons & Jade) to deprive their occupiers by self-sacrificing (burning) their food supplies (& farms) to hasten the Japanese defeat.

My rating of 5 of 10 may be too generous for today's tastes in movie drama.

But the film is of interest to see how movie making was influenced by Hollywood's desire to help the war effort. And Jade's role as a harbinger of female equality with men rather than being the traditionally subservient wife possibly resonated with women working in defense plants. Most of the acting (IMO) lacks subtlety and nuance. The speech patterns used were English versions of imitation Chinese as were the customs (meetings, greetings, farewells, etc.). No Asian actors in lead roles as there was a deliberate reliance on popular "name" stars for box office appeal (& receipts). I thought it was way far too long.