Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)

Directed by Henry King

Even though when interviewed, Han Suyin, the author of the book, “A Many-Splendoured Thing“, had said that the film version (with the word ‘love’ added to it’s title) was nicely done but didn’t tell the story of what actually happened, (the book was a sharp social satire of colonial Hong Kong and not a romantic love story); however, the film for me always brings back the beauty of Hong Kong in the 1950s – a Hong Kong of my mother’s and father’s time, and one they must’ve known so very well.

And watching the film, it is nostalgic in the truest sense of the word for me (the word ‘nostalgia’ was invented in 1688 by an Alsatian medical student who combined the word nostos (return) with the word algos (pain) to describe the condition suffered by Swiss soldiers who are kept away from their mountains).

William Holden and Jennifer Jones were splendid in the film, playing the journalist Ian Morrison and Han Suyin respectively. Jones‘ costumes were glorious; as was the song – heightening our sensitivity to their unrequited love story.

But for me, it is always going to be the scene at the beach, where they swam across the bay to visit her friends, that steals my heart – thinking and imagining where my parents and my uncles and aunties might have been at that time (it was filmed in Deep Water Bay – the next bay along from Repulse Bay where mum’s family home used to be). Hong Kong is not just a backdrop for their story, but is a vital character – and it still continues to be complex, interesting, and beautiful.

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