Product Details

• Actors: Victor Mature
• Directors: Frank Borzage
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: April 24, 2007
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000MTFFR2
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,487 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "China Doll" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Victor Mature's long-suffering, bloodhound visage is the central image in Frank Borzage's wartime romance drama China Doll, a perfect example of what critic Andrew Sarris once referred to as Borzage's films about war as an intrusion on the emotional privacy of lovers. Mature plays Air Force Captain Cliff Brandon, stationed in China and training elite pilots by day during World War II. At night, Brandon becomes a drunken loner shunning the company of his men, Red Cross nurses, and local women who try to sell him comfort. Things change when Brandon, stumbling home from a bar, agrees to buy an old Chinese man's daughter, Shu-Jen (Li Hua Li), for three months, a decision the officer instantly regrets in the cold light of day. Convinced by his sole confidante--a priest (Ward Bond) running an orphanage--that the only honorable way out is to let Shu-Jen fulfill her three-month obligation, Brandon soon finds himself falling for her and re-embracing life. With the world on a collision course with itself, however, Brandon and Shu-Jen's shared destiny departs from the life of mutual salvation and closeness they've earned. Borzage's delicacy with the love story finds echoes in parallel relationships between other characters. In fact, struggling for a clear path to intimacy in the midst of battle seems very much on the minds of everyone in this movie. Action sequences are reasonably crisp, though they’re not designed to thrill so much as devastate viewers. A climactic scene set at an Air Force base under attack by Japanese pilots is one of the most powerful and poignant wartime visions in American cinema. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 05/13/2008 Run time: 94 minutes Rating: Nr

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars wartime romance with Victor Mature and Li Li Hua, May 29, 2007

By 

Byron Kolln (the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: China Doll (DVD)

CHINA DOLL is a finely-pitched wartime drama. Victor Mature plays Capt. Cliff Brandon, a disillusioned airman fighting against the Japanese. One morning he wakes up to discover he has purchased the services of a beautiful Chinese housekeeper, Shu-Jen (played by the celebrated Asian actress Li Li Hua in one of her rare American film appearances).

This is one of the better films produced by Frank Borzage around this period. Just like the similarly-themed "Sayonara" and "The World of Suzie Wong", CHINA DOLL explores the problems and prejudices involved in a cross-cultural relationship.

Victor Mature is fine playing Captain Brandon; but it's Li Li Hua who really owns this picture. She only made a handful of movies in America, but here she is truly magnificent. The cast also includes Ward Bond, Bob Mathias, Johnny Desmond and Elaine Devry.

It's great to see CHINA DOLL finally on DVD. The disc offers no extras but the anamorphic transfer looks a treat. (Single-sided, single-layer disc).

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars ........The China-Burma Campaign [ 1941-1945], May 29, 2007

By 

Christopher E. Sarno (Boston, Massachusetts United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: China Doll (DVD)

This movie [now a DVD] was made in 1958 and it covers the pilots who flew over the Himalayan mountains from Burma-Tibet-China...this movie lacks genuine art/direction for the various tableaus look so flimsy throughout the entire film...every GI was spit-shined and plenty of booze for all hands [is there a war going on??]...Victor Mature is almost in every scene as a hard-bitten Commanding Officer but shows hardly any emotion even when annoyed...the cast around him is second string all the way except for Ward Bond...and as for singer Johnny Desmond, he is totally forgettable in the role of a pilot...on the bright side the Chinese actress LiLi Hua is perfect in her virginal/traditional role and very easy on the eyes, too...the story/line is good with a tearful ending for the only survivor to arrive in the USA...I think it is over/priced for the final product...this here movie could have been Vic Mature's sayonara to his long and wonderful film career......SSGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Movie, February 8, 2010

By 

JMN "Pommie Born, Aussie Bred" (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: China Doll (DVD)

I have not seen this movie since I was a young teenager and have been looking for it for so long. I was so excited when I found it on Amazon, I bought it straight away. On recieving, I cleared my afternoon, took the phone of the hook so not to be disurbed, sat down and enjoyed every minute of it. It's not Academy Award stuff, just a lovely romantic romp,something to get lost in for an hour and a half. Victor Mature may not have been one of the greatest actors, but I do enjoy anything he's in, there is just something about him and I thank god he graced the silver screen with his presence. Do yourself a favour, and just enjoy.