The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)

This movie is based on the book, "The Small Woman" which is the true story of Gladys Alyward who went to China as a missionary. However, Hollywood writers decided to mess with the story a bit and include a love interest in the form of Kurt Jurgen. But in spite of some unnecessary additions and some unnecessary cuts (like a lot of the Christian themes) this story is so fantastic that this is a movie that stands up all these years later. Like they say, "Truth is stranger than fiction". What is worth noting is that it is the final role of Robert Donat (best known for his portrayal and Oscar in "Good-bye, Mister Chips"). The final scene Robert Donat ever acted on screen was when the head of the city wants it put into the city's final records (before it is deserted because of the invading Japanese) that he has become a Christian. Even though this movie might seem to have the ingredients to make it very mushy (a la "The Sound of Music"), it is so based in real life that it is able to sustain the gritty realism that a person would face going to a remote place in China in the years before World War 2 (and indoor plumbing). For young and old; man or woman, this is a film for anyone and everyone. ~~ by Laura-Lee

Phew! – what would the world have done in the last few centuries without the missionary zeal of a handful of Caucasian heroes and heroines, who dragged the benighted places of the earth to their present enlightened heights, to the everlasting glory of God, themselves and, er…Hollywood? OK OK, I'm being a bit unfair to a very enjoyable film – and the real life woman whose story inspired it – to suggest that "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" is blighted by the tendency to glorify the (Caucasian) individual at the expense of the (native) group. If you can watch it in context it's great cinema. Radiant Ingrid Bergman plays, somewhat implausibly but nonetheless effectively, the former servant Gladys Aylward, another in the long history of famous English Eccentrics, whose missionary zeal takes her quixotically on a difficult journey to a remote northern province of China. There, in the period leading up to WWII and Japan's attack on China, she becomes an indispensable part of the community, in no small part due to her work as the local Mandarin's Foot Inspector, travelling the province to enforce the new law banning the binding of women's feet. Along the way her life is shaped by her evolving friendship with the Mandarin himself, and her initially difficult relationship with handsome, bitter Captain Lin Nan.That the Mandarin and Lin Nan are both played by Caucasian actors is not surprising for the 1950s, but is distracting and annoying. This casts no discredit on the actors themselves. Robert Donat's last film performance as the ageing, wily Mandarin, and Curt Jurgens' powerful study of a cold military man whose life is turned upside down, are both excellent, nuanced and committed. Bergman really throws herself into the part, and a large cast lend believability. Yang, the Chinese cook, adds comic humour with his entertainingly tall Bible tales; and there's a welcome appearance by the charismatic Burt Kwouk.So I gleefully overlook the outdated attitudes and conventions, and immerse myself in a different world with great pleasure – but I take even greater pleasure from knowing that in the modern age, each country gets to tell their own stories, without Caucasian interference. Now great directors such as Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, Ki-duk Kim, Kitano Takeshi, Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Idrissa Ouedraogo show the western world how it's done.

In the 30's, the working-class Englishwoman Gladys Aylward (Ingrid Bergman) leaves Liverpool and arrives in London, trying to join the China Missionary Society expecting to be sent to China. However, having only ordinary schooling, her request is turned down due to her lack of qualification to the position. Gladys works hard as a maid and uses all her savings and salaries to buy a train ticket to Tientsin. Then she travels by mule to the remote province of Wangcheng, where she works with the Englishwoman Jeannie Lawson (Athene Seyler) and the Chinese cook Yang (Peter Chong) in the Inn of the Sixth Happiness. When Ms. Lawson has an accident and dies, Gladys has no money to run the establishment and accepts the position of "foot inspector" offered by the Mandarin Hsien Chang (Robert Donat). She is assigned to visit the countryside to promote and enforce the government's law against foot binding Chinese girls. She is successful, changes her nationality to Chinese and her name to Jen-ai (meaning "the one who loves people"), surprising the skeptical bi-racial Captain Lin Nan (Curt Jurgens). When Wangcheng is invaded by the Japanese, Jen-ai travels through the mountains with one hundred children to save them from death."The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" is a wonderful and engaging epic based on the true story of the enlightened Gladys Aylward. Her biography romanticized by Hollywood is awesome, and the movie is fantastic. Ingrid Bergman is stunning in the role of a servant in a period of class struggle in London determined to go to China where she believes she belongs and has a mission from God to be accomplished. The colors and the landscapes are impressive, but the cast of Ingrid Bergman as a woman not gorgeous; Curt Jurgens as a Chinese-Caucasian; and Robert Donat as a Chinese is weird, but they have perfect performances and I believe that is what matters in a film. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "A Morada da Sexta Felicidade" ("The Inn of the Sixth Happiness")

I saw the trailer for this on PBS and at first I thought I be in for a cringe-fest a la Charlie Chan. I've become a fan of many "for us by us" Hong Kong and Asian movies with real actors and actresses, so from these movies, my expectations are a little more refined than those who might see Hero as "that Japanese or Chinese movie." Instead of cringing, I found a thoroughly enjoyable movie with its heart in the right place. Someone commented that Ingrid Bergman was for real this one, and I got that impression as well.I believe the foot-binding practice had been officially banned by the Manchus but the ban had never been really enforced, especially in the more remote areas. The foot-binding scene was really nice. It did not imply "I am western-person, I will save you Chinese from this stupid practice." Very simple, nicely done.