Stars Katherine Hepburn, Walter Huston, adapted from Pearl Buck's novel of the same name.Ling Tan (Huston) is a Chinese farmer with a daughter and 3 younger adult sons. His daughter is married to a merchant in town who sells many Japanese goods, his sons work on the family farm. One of his sons, Er Tan, is married to Jade (Hepburn) who differs from the traditional Chinese wife in that she can read and write and seems in the vanguard of a women's lib movement.The village they live in is peaceful until the Japanese invasion, previously 100s of miles away, moves into their area. The son-in-law merchant becomes a Japanese collaborator. Ling Tan's sons leave the farm (with Jade) to fight with the resistance and eventually return to fight the Japanese with guerrilla warfare. This film, released in August 1944 (in WW-II), was not only for domestic consumption but also for distribution to American troops in all theaters of the war. Its aims are quite obvious: to make a successful domestic movie that would also fan the motivation of both the armed forces and civilians at home to defeat the Japanese. Some rapes of Chinese women (sounds are obvious off camera) and blatant murders of other innocent Chinese are present. The movie ends, not with the defeat of the Japanese, but with a concerted, cooperative effort by the villagers (under the instigation of Ling Tan's sons & Jade) to deprive their occupiers by the self-sacrificial burning of their food supplies and farms to hasten the Japanese defeat.My rating of 5 of 10 may be too generous for today's tastes in movie drama.But the film IS of interest to see how Hollywood's desire to help the Allied war effort influenced movie making. And Jade's role as a harbinger of female equality with men rather than being the traditionally subservient Chinese wife possibly resonated with American women working in defense plants. Most of the acting (IMO) lacks subtlety and nuance. The speech patterns used were English versions of imitation Chinese as were the customs (meetings, greetings, farewells, etc.). No Asian actors in lead roles as there was a deliberate reliance on popular "name" stars for box office appeal (& receipts). At 147 minutes I thought it was way far too long.

As others have written, I too did not appreciate the Caucasian influence in this movie. However, since I am a person who did not know that Japan ( a small country) invaded China ( a very large country)) it was a learning experience which I do appreciate. I am African-American and would have liked the movie better had there been Japanese playing Japanese and Chinese playing Chinese! While trying to enjoy the movie, this thought kept pervading my mind, making it difficult to feel sorrow for the people who were being murdered. This movie is pure trickery in that respect. Not that I like to see people killed. I am glad they do not make movies of this sort anymore.

I also ran across this movie while early morning channel surfing. Did not see the entire movie, unfortunately. The plot is well developed and I found myself caring about what happened to these characters but the casting of white Americans as Asian folks was almost too distracting. My favorite characters were Ling Tan and his wife; the interaction with their grandchild really tugged at the heartstrings! Kate Hepburn as a Chinese peasant, Jade, was the worst; Agnes Moorehead was a hoot! Now I really want to find this movie again, since I missed the very beginning then had to leave for work and missed the end. I also would like to read the book now as the only Pearl S. Buck I have read is The Good Earth.

While surfing through the movie listings trying to pass some time I came across Dragon Seed. I saw the date (1944) and the summary and thought that this would be another war-time morale type movie. That type of film has always been good to watch so I tuned in. I was very surprised. The film had a wonderful story with very good acting even though a bit stoic. I discounted the Chinese makeup and the non-Asian actors so they were not a factor in my enjoyment. The movie went far beyond the standard war era gung-ho film. The feelings of the times and the people came through wonderfully. I would like to see it again to catch subtle things that I know I missed the first time. It was a wonderful way to spend my time.