Pardon me for asking, but I was interrupted a few times, and missed some critical parts of the movie. I don't know when I'll be able to see it again, since I can't afford to buy it.
So ... will someone tell me why he committed suicide (I assume he knew what he was putting into the tea)?
Thanks!
Deep inside, in your mind, you will find no reason; there's no rhyme — are you now?
BlackVelvetGlove; General Yen is betrayed by his Mistress and Barbara Stanwyck's characters' sentimentality. Losing his fortune and the means too support his Army. Suicide was the only way out of his predicament.
shareI think there was more to it than that. He was *about yo* kill himself because of losing his army, money and power, but then Stanwyck came into the room and told him she'd never leave him. He was overjoyed. But she couldn't stop crying, and he realized her being with him was the ultimate sacrifice, especially as she came to him as his mistress, not his wife. He killed himself to save her.
shareYen killed himself because he was Chinese and she was white.
This was back in the day when any contact between a white and a non white had to end in death.
See, for example, Broken Blossoms.
It was the social demand, rather than any real demand of the plot.
http://www.amazon.com/Save-Send-Delete-Danusha-Goska/dp/1846949866
I agree with both if your summaries. It simply could not end with a "happy ending."
Also, as she and Jones are on the boat heading for Shanghai, the steely almost shell-shocked look on Stanwyck's face while Jones drunkenly blathers on is a really fine piece of acting for a very young Stanwyck. A glimpse of how good an actress she was becoming.
I wondered why he committed suicide as well.
shareI got the impression he did it because he lost everything. All his support was gone and he would soon have to answer for his crimes. For a moment he was happy Megan was willing to be with him but then he realizes she’s only doing it because she lost the bet. He sacrificed everything for her but in the end she still did not want to be with him; not willingly, anyway.
That was my take on it. I didn't really enjoy the movie. He held her hostage but we're supposed to believe he falls in love with her. Are we supposed to think he’s a decent guy because he never forced himself on her?
I know it was a different time eighty plus years ago so they would never have cast an actual Asian actor in the role but watching the movie today is strange. It's a little hard for me to take it seriously. All the derogatory comments against both the Chinese and the missionaries made me uncomfortable.
I don't think it was because he lost everything. He seemed to expect that already. I think he was going to kill himself because he couldn't have her. He had changed his mind about suicide when she came to him, but when she started crying, he realized she still had mixed feelings about him and so he went ahead with his original plan of killing himself.
Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Criedshare
PopperTheKungFu-Dragon says > I don't think it was because he lost everything. He seemed to expect that already. I think he was going to kill himself because he couldn't have her. He had changed his mind about suicide when she came to him, but when she started crying, he realized she still had mixed feelings about him and so he went ahead with his original plan of killing himself.It's been a while since I saw the movie and you seem to have seen it more recently so, at this point, you may remember it better than me. However, as I recall, things were closing in on him and he had no way out.
Yen planned to kill himself because he lost everything and could not win over Megan. When she came to him offering herself as his mistress, he decided to live because he thought that meant she loved him, but when she continued sobbing he saw that she was not offering herself out of love, only guilt. He told her previously the only way he would take her was if she offered him her heart willingly, so he resumed his plan to kill himself in order to save her from unhappiness and from being killed by his enemies when they came to kill him. This was done as an act of the sort of selfless love she preached to him about earlier where you don't expect anything in return.
share