The World of Suzie Wong
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Movie Reviews of The World of Suzie Wong
Movie Review: IRRESISTIBLY, DELICIOUSLY BAD! "YOU BELIEVE?"
Summary: 5 Stars
"It'd be laughable if it weren't so filthy!" rants one character in THE WORLD OF SUZIE WONG, but au contraire, this costly 1960 film is laughable BECAUSE it's so filthy. Refreshingly unlike many other Hollywood hooker sagas -- the kind where Elizabeth Taylor's paid cash to model gowns, or Audrey Hepburn gets $50 for the powder room -- Nancy Kwan seems to know she's playing a whore in Wong.
When penniless artist William Holden, who lives atop a sleazy Hong Kong brothel, spies Kwan in the building's pick-up bar, we're told she is the "most popular girl -- got sex appeal!" And how: her hot-cha dance routine still registers, decades after the fact, on the Bad Movie Bump 'n' Grind Allure-O-Meter. Holden asks Kwan to his room, but when he says, "Can't pay much, but I'd like you to pose for me," she replies, "Just sit? No, I lose face. My girlfriends will say, 'You go to gentleman's room and sit? You're slipping!'" Since there's no story unless she changes her mind, Kwan instantly reconsiders, asking hopefully, "Take clothes off?" Curbing his artistic impulses for a moment, Holden takes Kwan off to dinner, during which the spunky prostitute admits hooking is "dirty," but insists, "I not dirty street girl. Inside, I still good." To demonstrate this, she offers herself up as dessert--for free. When Holden rejects her, she starts picking up men out in the street. As she chirps, "Hi, sailor!" over and over with irresistable neediness in her voice, we can only wonder: How long will it take before Holden falls?
Quite a while, thanks to Kwan's trampy behavior. When Holden decks a gob who's called Kwan (accurately) "a filthy little slut," she asks him, "Do me a favor--let me tell my girlfriends you beat me up." (He refuses, but Kwan does so anyway, eliciting this from another whore: "You're very lucky!") However, when Kwan starts a catfight because she thinks that Holden is flirting with another vixen, she's gone too far. "I came her to paint," Holden snarls at her. "I can't have you giving me your love on the days that you're free." Conveniently, fellow tramp-hound Michael Wilding barges in with news he's split with his wife and wants to make Kwan his "permanent girlfriend." Kwan gives him the old "I not dirty street girl" line, adding, "If I your regular girlfriend, I never go with another man." And off she goes with him.
Respectable English art expert Sylvia Syms (this crazy film's craziest character, inasmuch as she views Holden as marriage material) starts posing for paintings in Kwan's stead -- at least til Kwan returns to show off her kept-woman wardrobe. "Take that terrible dress off," Holden hollers. "You look like a cheap European streetwalker." (Helpfully, he rips the clothes off her -- in the name of the fashion police, mind you, not because he wants her looking like a cheap Eurasian streetwalker.
After Wilding's estranged wife samples what he's been learning in Kwan's bed, she wants him back pronto. Holden agrees to break this bad news, and when he does, hang on for Kwan's full meltdown -- a bizarre identity-crisis split that leads, as such things often do, to a happy ending. Suddenly taking on the personality of a demure virgin, Kwan once again cries, "I not dirty street girl!" and then says, "I want to be like nice English girl for you. I go now." She exits Holden's room, then bounds right back in, announcing, "It's now tomorrow. You my first man. You believe?" Strange? Yep, but not as strange as Holden's reply: "I believe. And you're my first girl."
OK, so they face a cruel, uncomprehending world. Sym's Brit dad asks Holden in alarm, "You'd be happy to spend the end of your days with a little, old, Chinese wife?" But aren't these the kind of problems that bind a couple together? Somewhere, they're living happily ever after together, right now.
You believe?
Movie Review: Classic drama finally available on DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
"The World of Suzie Wong" would probably be made today with graphic sex, violence and more than a glimpse into the seedy side of prostitution. As it is we get this tale of an American artist (William Holden) who meets a Chinese prostitute (Kwan in her debut) on a Ferry with just the right of modesty and the focus on the characters. She proceeds to steal his heart and not his wallet. She tries to have him arrested when he returns her purse accusing him of stealing it. Set in Hong Kong during the 60's, we see a world long since past in a time when innocence still dominated most of the films made by Hollywood. This is by no means a toothless tale but one that lacks a sense of the reality that we would get today. In a sense, that's good because it allows the film to communicate the emotional distance and anguish of the characters. On the other hand, it also makes it might make it difficult for contemporary audiences to connect with the film. Regardless, it's a very good movie with strong performances from William Holden and Nancy Kwan (in her film debut).
The transfer looks a bit grainy and gritty not at all as sharp as some of the older films that Paramount has released to DVD recently. The colors have faded a bit as well although it's unlikely that this film will get the attention or restoration it needs to recapture its former luster. There's the typical analog scars we might expect from a film that's been displayed, beaten up and bruised for such a long, long time but, on the whole, they are minimal. The mono sound is pretty good although flat at times without the any depth.
This budget priced DVD has no extras although the film is presented in its original aspect ratio (i.e., widescreen) for the first time in a long, long time. It's a pity as Nancy Kwan is alive and well and probably could have provided an interesting commentary track. Additionally, a documentary looking at the making of a movie with a controversial theme might have benefited the DVD as well.
Over all, "World" looks pretty decent although not quite as sharp, colorful or vivid as it could be. The presentation is fairly pedestrian and uninspired which is sad considering that this is a film classic.
Movie Review: Still the best!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have seen quite a few white male/Asian female movies myself and in my opinion this is still the best of them all. A candidate for close second would be "The Quiet American", which conveys a similarly tremendous cinematic atmosphere, but focuses a bit too much on politics for my liking.
Kwan and Holden work perfectly together and the other actors like Mr. Wilding also do a splendid job. The film was really shot in Hong Kong (unusual for the time) and makes for some very interesting historical footage, in fact if you're a white man travelling to places like Guangzhou or Shenzhen today, you will more often than not feel just like in a film set for this movie.
To summarize the plot: Hobby painter Robert (Lobat) Lomax travels to Hong Kong for a year to try himself as a professional artist. To this end he hires a girl from the sleazy nightclub nextdoor to his hotel, to pose as a model for his paintings. Professional and distant at first, their relationship quickly turns to understanding, affection and love. After lots of ups and downs, with many a tear-jerker placed in between, all taking place in a 1960s Hong Kong surrounding, Robert at the end proposes to her and they walk off into the sunset together.
This flick is IMHO far superior to the more mainstream "Sayonara", by the way.
Movie Review: A Very Touching Hong Kong Love Story
Summary: 5 Stars
William Holden plays Robert Lomax, an American architect who takes a year off from work to pursue his dream of making it as an artist. He moves to Hong Kong and sets up house in a cheap hotel plagued with prostitutes. He uses one, Suzie Wong (played by Eurasian actress Nancy Kwong), as a model for his paintings and she soon falls in love with him. To complicate matters, the daughter of a prominent HK-based British banker also falls for Lomax, and he ultimately must decide between Wong, to whom he seems more attracted but whose occupational background he finds troubling, and the more socially prominent Englishwoman.
Given that I knew what the basic story was about, I had low expectations for this film. I just found it hard to imagine a character played by William Holden getting serious with a hooker; however, the film evolves in a way that makes it all believable. The viewer will sympathize with Suzie Wong's plight and will feel for both Lomax and Wong as they try to overcome the obstacles in their relationship.
Nancy Kwan (whose father was Chinese and whose mother was a British fashion model) was a sex symbol in the 1960s and, when you see her in this film, it is easy to understand why.
Movie Review: They Don't Make Them Like This Anymore
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw this movie in 1968 when I was 11 years old and living on Okinawa. Though at that time, I didn't really care for the plot, I did think Nancy Kwan was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I am currently serving in Afghanistan and found this on DVD in the PX and purchased it. After viewing it, I still think she was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. I also came to appreciate the story line. Though this movie would most likely be considered a "chick flick" by the younger soldiers I serve with, I consider it a great movie myself. I appreciate the movie not having gratuitous sex. That element itself is something I miss in the movies. A good movie doesn't have to show them having sex, it just fades the scene out slowly. Nancy Kwan demonstrated remarkable acting skills for someone in the first role. This movie was considered racist by many Asians because it displayed that poor Chinese girls were prostitutes and attracted to American and European men for a way out. What is racist about that? I actually think it demonstrates a keen business sense of sorts as American and European men in Hong Kong were wealthy in comparison to Chinese men. The movie demonstrated logic in this regards.