Interesting: with High Tech, Humanist Scientist, + Chinese Ideology

I thought this was an interesting idea for a film. High technology (for the time), a humanist scientist pitted against Chinese communism.

It was never intended to win any awards. Still, some money was spent on this and it shows. What was interesting was the odd juxtaposition of technology and the very humanist scientist represented by Gregory Peck.

At the time this film was made almost nothing was known about China. It's borders had been closed and the "cultural revolution" was in full swing throughout the country. The filmmakers had to base their research on what little information was available at the time. They were also under pressure from the Chinese government to represent Chairman Mao in a fair light.

Attempts were made to film in China, but permission was not granted. They then tried to film in Hong Kong (at the time under British control), but a riot had recently taken place and the government could not guarantee crew safety. Ultimately the crew filmed in Taiwan with a clandestine trip to Hong Kong to film the market scenes.

What made the film particularly interesting was the representation of Chairman Mao (by actor Conrad Yama) who has a philosophical discussion with the lead character, John Hathaway (Gregory Peck) regarding the rights of individuals vs the rights of society as a whole.

There is a fair amount of suspense and the movie includes, near the end, an action sequence of Hathaway attempting to escape China via the Russian border. Pretty good action sequence for the time with plenty of gun-fire, bombs, explosions, and smoke. Added to this is the knowledge that Dr. Hathaway has a bomb in his head that is programmed to detonate any second, a situation that Peck's character was not even aware of.

I would not recommend this film for a "movie night," but it most most certainly worth a viewing for a snap-shot of the world in the late sixties, excellent portrayals of both China and Chinese during that time, and the near perfect score by Jerry Goldsmith.

A note: This was one of the first movies that had Asian actors playing Asian characters. Conrad Yama's performance was particularly good. Refreshing! Also, neither the West nor the East's political viewpoints are shown in a particularly positive light. Both sides would have killed off the lead character to maintain status quo. It is also interesting that both the West and the East would have kept this enzyme discovery secret for political purposes.

Watta ya lookn here for?