The Bitter Tea of General Yen

The Bitter Tea of General Yen
Theatrical release poster
Directed byFrank Capra
Screenplay byEdward Paramore
Based onThe Bitter Tea of General Yen
1930 novel
by Grace Zaring Stone
Produced byWalter Wanger
Starring
CinematographyJoseph Walker
Edited byEdward Curtiss
Music byW. Frank Harling
Color processBlack and white
Production
company
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • January 6, 1933 (1933-01-06) (US)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Bitter Tea of General Yen is a 1933 American pre-Code drama war film directed by Frank Capra and starring Barbara Stanwyck, and featuring Nils Asther and Walter Connolly. Based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Grace Zaring Stone, the film is about an American missionary in Shanghai during the Chinese Civil War who gets caught in a battle while trying to save a group of orphans. Knocked unconscious, she is saved by a Chinese general warlord who brings her to his palace. When the general falls in love with the naive young woman, she fights her attraction to the powerful general and resists his flirtation, yet remains at his side when his fortune turns.

The Bitter Tea of General Yen was the first film to play at Radio City Music Hall upon its opening on January 6, 1933. It was also one of the first films to deal openly with interracial sexual attraction.[1] The film was a box office failure upon its release and has since been overshadowed by Capra's later efforts. In recent years, the film has grown in critical opinion. In 2000, the film was chosen by film critic Derek Malcolm as one of the hundred best films in The Century of Films.

  1. ^ O'Toole, Lawrence (August 27, 1993). "The Bitter Tea of General Yen". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 29, 2013.