Mark Elliott (William Holden) is a married American war correspondent in Hong Kong who who falls for a widowed Eurasian-Chinese doctor, Han Suyin (Jennifer Jones.) Both have to overcome prejudice and other obstacles thrown at them.Dr Han Suyin is a caring doctor in British Hong Kong but refugees are flooding in from communist China during its civil war. Some of her fellow doctors want Han to go to China and work in a hospital there. On the other hand Mark might be sent to cover a new conflict in Korea.The film has repeated strains of its title song which can become irritating. It also tries to ape From Here to Eternity in a similar type of beach scene. Some of the dialogue is clunky. William Holden just doesn't cut it here in a romantic role, he looks grumpy. Jones is enchanting enough when she is not constantly repeating her mixed race heritage.The film is daring for the time with its mixed race romance but Mark is already married and you can reckon that it will end up in tragedy. The location shooting in Hong Kong is dazzling at times.

I am a fan of William Holden and this starring film at this time should have been better. Despite all the great scenery in Hong Kong, the script lets this one down. No wonder the theme song is much more famous than the film.Holden is a journalist and he meets a Female Doctor who has been widowed. Holden's wife who we never meet does not want to let him go, even though she has not seen him in 6 years. Such is the confusion of this plot, and the Doctor falls in love and carries a flame for this guy throughout. What is missing for everybody here is a back story.The ending is so predictable that I guessed it about the first 10 minutes. The scenery is the neat stuff here. The car Holden drives around is not the usual model. There is a CAT Vehicle at one point.Oh, if this really had a story, but it tries to wet 3 hankies without really drawing the viewer into anything except feeling how odd this relationship is. I got out the hankie when I realized how good this movie could have been, but it just does not get anywhere near where it should be.Sometimes the tree at the top of the hill needs to get cut down. I had the urge to rent a chain saw for the last scenes and say "enough already." The song Love is a Many Splendored Thing" is the only claim to long term fame this one has.

I watched this the other night with my wife. The film is available on Netflix. It's a good movie if you like 1950s romantic tearjerkers like we do. Ms. Jones and Mr. Holden play their roles well as always. The romantic chemistry between the two is very believable and touching. The story itself was well written with a few overly melodramatic moments common in films of this decade. Still I'm a sucker for these movies, the same goes for 'All That Heaven Allows', 'Magnificent Obsession', 'Peyton Place' and others from the 50s with different actors of course. They're mostly high budget soap operas, still they're fun. This one takes place in Hong Kong and involves a married correspondent who falls in love with a widowed part-Chinese doctor. We see them dealing with the problems of a mixed culture relationship..and his marriage to an unloving wife. It contains beautiful scenes reminiscent of another film Mr. Holden was in 'The World of Suzy Wong'.(1960) which he would make years later. Reportedly Ms. Jones did not get along at all with William Holden on the set, so it's impressive they were able to have so much chemistry on screen. It's said she would eat garlic before a love scene just to irritate him. At the time of the filming she was married to studio head David O. Selznick and it's said she made constant demands. The plot is based on a true life story. I won't give much more away about the story except to say have the tissue box ready. I rate this 6 out of 10 stars.

This film is based on an autobiographical novel written by Han Suyin, a Eurasion doctor during the time of the Communist Revolution in China. Dr. Han is female and has a love affair with Mark Elliot, an American war correspondent in Hong Kong. The movie came out in 1955, during an period of romantic movies, and there could not be a more romantic story than this one. The couple has to deal with racism and cultural differences from both ends. Maybe all love ends in tragedy, and this love ends with Mark being sent to Korea. I remember when the theme song was popular. Jennifer Jones was among the more beautiful actresses of her era.