MovieChat Forums > The World of Suzie Wong (1961) Discussion > Suzie Wong and Holy Golightly

Suzie Wong and Holy Golightly

posted 15 years ago by schappe1
3 replies | jump to latest

it occurred to me in the days after viewing this film that it bears a rather stunning resemblence to a more famous film that came out the next year: "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

- Every country had it's "Audrey Hepburn" in those days. Jean Simmons was the English Audrey Hepburn. Leslie Caron was the French Audrey Hepburn. Pier Angeli was the Italian Audrey Hepburn. Maggie McNamara or perhaps Millie Perkins were the American Audrey Hepburns. Myoshi Umecki was the Japanese Audrey Hepburn. France Nuyen was the French/Vietnamese Audrey Hepburn. Nancy Kwan was the Chinese version.

- Suzie Wong is a girl from a poor background who puts on a veneer of sophistication. So is Holly Golightly. Both are "phonies" yet profess to hate "phonies".

- Both are bad girls. Suzie is overtly a prostitute. Holly is by implication. At least she's a gold digger. Both would like to marry a rich guy. But both actually have pretty basic values and are very charming, not hard-boiled.

- Suzie has her child: Holly has her cat. Children are more important than cats, but bear with me on this. Suzie loses her child. Hollie tosses away her cat and gets it back. Both are seminal moments and lead toward a realization of who Suzie and Holly really are and a greater contentment with that.

- Suzie is in love with a conflicted but understanding artist. Hollie is in love with a conflicted but understanding writer. Both men have rather stuffy romantic alternatives.

- Both stories take place in cities that are among the most vital and interesting places in the world. the cities become almost a character in the script.

You wonder if one story was influenced by the other or if the writers just happened to come up with similar stories by coinsidence.

[–] haristas 14 years ago

Holly Golightly was a prostitute, something made clear in the original story. Because Audrey Hepburn played her, they had to dance around it, unlike in Suzie Wong, which was played by an unknown, and was based on a more explict book published later than "Breakfast at Tiffany's." It's not coinsidence that both films are similar, both were produced by Paramount and had big releases, starting at Radio City Music Hall in New York. "The World Of Suzie Wong" isn't as well remembered today because it offended so many of Asian descent and it didn't have a hit song like "Moon River." Also, I think William Holden was a bit too old. They should have gotten Charlton Heston.

[–] zoe-butler51 11 years ago

An excellent comment. Apart from it being clearer in the book that Holly was a prostitute, I do not think that she was in love with the narrator in the novel either. The writer is more of an observer, intrigued by Holly as he is intrigued by everyone around him - although he obviously has a great deal of sympathy for Miss Golightly. Hollywood clearly wanted a 'boy meets girl' story rather than a 'writer observes girl' story. And, I think they had to tone down Holly's prostitution partially - as you say - because she was played by Audrey Hepburn and partially because it would upset people if the hero married a prostitute. I dare say, that when TWOSW was made, censorship rules had been relaxed, but also, the fact that she was Chinese probably 'helped' in that audiences saw her as exotic and somewhat 'primitive' and William Holden 'saved her' from the squalid Hong Kong life. Racist, yes, but that's how people took things then - and still do, to some extent.

[–] stareyes24 11 years ago

I think William Holden was too old too. I honestly think they should have gotten Robert Wagner, Paul Newman, Rock Hudson or Jeffrey Hunter.