Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing is a 1955 American drama-romance film. Set in 1949-50 Hong Kong, it tells the story of a married, but separated, American reporter Mark Elliot (played by William Holden), who falls in love with a Eurasian doctor Han Suyin originally from China (played by Jennifer Jones), only to encounter prejudice from her family and from Hong Kong society.
 

The movie was adapted by John Patrick from the 1952 autobiographical novel A Many-Splendoured Thing by Han Suyin. The film was directed by Henry King.

 

The movie later inspired a television soap opera in 1967, though without the hyphen in the show's title.

 

Plot

The widowed Eurasian doctor Han Suyin (Jones) falls in love with the married-but-separated American correspondent Mark Elliott (Holden) in Hong Kong, during the period of China's Civil War in the late 1940s. Although they briefly find happiness together, she is ostracized by the greater Chinese community. After losing her position at the hospital, Suyin and her adopted daughter go to live with a friend while Mark is on an assignment during the Korean War. They write to each other constantly.

 

However on the same day that Suyin receives a letter from Mark, another friend drops by with a newspaper which says that he has been killed by an aircraft bomb. Distraught, Suyin climbs the hill to the tree where they said their last goodbyes, half hoping to see him there again. When she realizes that he is truly gone, she falls to her knees sobbing. In the final scene, a butterfly, similar to the one seen on Elliot's typewriter while at the front, lands on the tree in front of Suyin. She composes herself and walks away.

 

Cast

 

Jennifer Jones as Dr. Han Suyin
 

• William Holden - Mark Elliott

• Jennifer Jones - Dr. Han Suyin

• Torin Thatcher - Humphrey Palmer-Jones

• Isobel Elsom - Adeline Palmer-Jones

• Murray Matheson - Dr. John Keith

• Virginia Gregg - Anne Richards

• Richard Loo - Robert Hung

• Soo Yong - Nora Hung

• Philip Ahn - Third Uncle

• Jorja Curtright - Suzanne

• Donna Martell - Suchen, Suyin's sister

 

Production

Despite the film's romantic subject, Holden and Jones could barely stand each other on set. According to Holden's biography, Jones chewed garlic before close-up scenes, and was generally rude and abrasive to everyone involved in the production. She also complained bitterly about her make-up which she said made her "look old".

 

The film was shot on location in Hong Kong, which was unusual for its time. It was completed on time within the three months schedule.

 

Locations

 

The Foreign Correspondents' Club, then located at 41A Conduit Road, is portrayed in the film as a hospital. The building was demolished in the late 1960s.
 

• The building of the Foreign Correspondents' Club, was the former Mok Residence until 1951 when it became the Foreign Correspondents' Club then located at 41A Conduit Road, is portrayed as a hospital. The building is now demolished and Realty Gardens apartment complex has occupied the site since 1970.

• The former colonial-style Repulse Bay Hotel, demolished in 1982, and now the site of The Repulse Bay apartment building.

• The Tai Pak Floating Restaurant, now part of the Jumbo Kingdom.

• The famous hill-top meeting place where the lovers used to meet was located in rural California and not in Hong Kong.

 

Reception

Nominated and winning multiple Academy Awards, Variety characterized it as "beautiful, absorbing."

 

Awards

The film won three oscars at the 1956 Academy Awards, they were:

• Best Costume Design, Color

• Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture

• Best Music, Song (for Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster for "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing").

 

It was also nominated for:

• Best Picture

• Jennifer Jones - Best Actress in a Leading Role

• Lyle R. Wheeler, George Davis, Walter M. Scott, Jack Stubbs - Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color

• Best Cinematography, Color

• Carlton W. Faulkner - Best Sound, Recording.