Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)

(On TV, May 2020) To say that Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing is okay may not seem like a ringing endorsement, but compared to what it could have been, it’s almost a complete triumph. Consider that it’s a romance between an American journalist and a Eurasian woman in the late 1940s, as seen from mid-1950s America. Plus, it features all-Caucasian Jennifer Jones playing a character of mixed ethnicity through heavy makeup that she herself disliked. (The film’s production history is rich in anecdotes about how Jones did not get along with anyone on set, least of all co-star William Holden.) Also consider that the film dealt directly with adultery (well, “they’re separated” degrees of adultery) and interracial relationship in the waning years of the Production Code (a special dispensation was obtained, almost solely because the story was adapted from a popular novel). There are all sorts of ways in which Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing could have gone as wrong as other films of the time and… it didn’t. The sensible treatment of cross-ethnicity romance was somewhat daring for its time, and doesn’t feel all that terrible nowadays. What it does feel like is an overwrought romantic drama, but that’s not such a bad thing: it still feels romantic, and it still feels important. It’s easy to see why the film was nominated for eight Academy Awards (snagging three for song, score and costume design)—including some splendid colour cinematography of mid-1950s Hong Kong. Could it have been better? Absolutely, and that would be near-certain for any contemporary remake. Could it have been worse? Also, yes—this film is held together almost entirely by its sympathy for both of its lead characters.