Listening to the unique dialog, methods of address, and expressions of tenderness and love made me wonder if something was lost in translation. I imagined a Chinese translation of English 'Oh Honey!' might be 'I bow to my glorious powerful master'??? Seems when life is just a bare existence and immensely challenging women are treated with great respect to carry the load as well. Who knows but reading books, especially the Bible, was an executionable offense back in the day. I certainly remember my husband complaining he wished I never went to college so he would maintain his superiority. Ha! Like that routine would have lasted very long.So now we are worried about the potential invasion of China here while our debt is so precipitous and fear incites such a divisive destabilization of our country. You wonder how people survived such cruel inhumane treatment but this is no different than our treatment of many peoples we have occupied and conquered. I would appreciate those foreign films that address the reality of the Western Devil. Let's face it, men everywhere throughout the ages are mostly responsible for this mess and if women were to take over we could likely take advantage of the situation as well. Perhaps that is why there is such a concerted effort to maintain inequality because payback is going to be a b itch!I was able to move beyond seeing Clarence the Angel in his Fu Man Chu glasses and whiskers as well as Kate Hepburn with her Yankee accent. It is not difficult to take away sympathy for all oppressed people and be thankful for the many friends, family, security and those ever vital material possessions.High recommend for the scene of a great Chinese smörgåsbord of Duck Soup and the many wild and crazy ingredients that make this film memorable.

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.

I just finished skimming through the reviews for this film and noticed that the first one actually had the gall to give this movie a score of 10! A 10 would place this film in the illustrious company as other great films such as GONE WITH THE WIND, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES or GIGI--surely it's an insult to these other great films to compare DRAGON SEED to them in any favorable way! Other than the fact they are movies, I just don't see any other rational comparison.So why did I give the film the ridiculously low score of 2? Well, it features the very worst job of casting of any film--with the possible exception of THE CONQUERER (with John Wayne as 'Gengis Khan' and Susan Hayward as a Mongol princess). In DRAGON SEED, Katherine Hepburn (red haired and possessing a very prim and proper New England accent) and Walter Huston are among the cast playing Chinese people!! Now it was unfortunately common in the 30s and 40s to have such parts played by Westerners but at least some had the ability to almost carry it off well. Heck, Warner Oland and Sidney Toler were MUCH closer to being believable as Chinese (detective 'Charlie Chan') than either Huston or Hepburn!!! As for the rest of the story, it's a relatively dull and uninspiring Pearl Buck story with none of the impact or style as THE GOOD EARTH--a fine film from a decade earlier (despite the all Anglo cast once again). Instead, it's an anti-Japanese film made to promote the war effort in the Pacific.By the way, as a bit of trivia, the red haired Agnes Morehead deserves special recognition, as she not only played a Chinese lady in this film but Genghis Khan's mother in THE CONQUERER--proving that horrendously stupid casting can be infectious.Also, for more fun casting decisions featuring the most ridiculous Westerners playing Asians, try watching Edward G. Robinson in THE HATCHET MAN--an amazingly good film despite having 'Little Caesar' pretending to be Chinese. Other odd ones (humorous because they were so very, very offensive) were Marlon Brando in TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON and Mickey Rooney in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. I swear to you, all these movie references are true--Hollywood was THIS out of touch and the public actually went to these films in droves!

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.