The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)
If you like Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St. Mary’s and Murder on the Orient Express, check her out in The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, in which she plays a self-sacrificing missionary who puts her entire life on hold to care for poor, Chinese children. It’s a very solid role for a mature actress, and I’m sure any number of women longed to get their hands on it. If you like Rosalind Russell’s turn in Sister Kenny, you’ll like Ingrid’s very similar version.
Both dramas were based on the lives of real women who chose a life of service rather than a personal one. They gave up great loves and chose to help sick children instead. This version took place in China, rather than Australia, and unfortunately it was made during the time that Hollywood cast white actors in ethnic roles. Robert Donat’s last performance was in this movie, made up to be the head scholar of the Mandarin village. Curd Jurgens played Ingrid’s love interest: a half-Chinese soldier. Right, because the blond, German actor totally looks half-Chinese. Since Ingrid Bergman was such a big woman and often required larger leading men, lest she come across as too dominant, it was a great casting choice to pick the “Norman wardrobe”. Curd was six-foot-four and had a tremendous build, but why couldn’t he just have been European? In what otherwise would have been a moving story, the audience was yanked out of the realism and forced to focus on the tape on Curd’s and Robert’s eyelids.
If you do love Ingrid, though, you might still like it. It’s a great role, and she’s more than equipped to handle it. Definitely rent Sister Kenny if you’ve never seen it, and try 7 Women for Anne Bancroft’s daring missionary work.
Want to watch it? Click here to see it on ok.ru and thanks "Ric Vani" for posting!
More Ingrid Bergman movies here!
More Curd Jurgens movies here!
Both dramas were based on the lives of real women who chose a life of service rather than a personal one. They gave up great loves and chose to help sick children instead. This version took place in China, rather than Australia, and unfortunately it was made during the time that Hollywood cast white actors in ethnic roles. Robert Donat’s last performance was in this movie, made up to be the head scholar of the Mandarin village. Curd Jurgens played Ingrid’s love interest: a half-Chinese soldier. Right, because the blond, German actor totally looks half-Chinese. Since Ingrid Bergman was such a big woman and often required larger leading men, lest she come across as too dominant, it was a great casting choice to pick the “Norman wardrobe”. Curd was six-foot-four and had a tremendous build, but why couldn’t he just have been European? In what otherwise would have been a moving story, the audience was yanked out of the realism and forced to focus on the tape on Curd’s and Robert’s eyelids.
If you do love Ingrid, though, you might still like it. It’s a great role, and she’s more than equipped to handle it. Definitely rent Sister Kenny if you’ve never seen it, and try 7 Women for Anne Bancroft’s daring missionary work.
Want to watch it? Click here to see it on ok.ru and thanks "Ric Vani" for posting!
More Ingrid Bergman movies here!
More Curd Jurgens movies here!