The Bitter Tea of General Yen

The Bitter Tea of General Yen
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Frank Capra
Screenplay by	Edward Paramore
Based on	The Bitter Tea of General Yen 1930 novel by Grace Zaring Stone
Produced by	Walter Wanger
Starring	Barbara Stanwyck Nils Asther Walter Connolly
Cinematography	Joseph Walker
Edited by	Edward Curtiss
Music by	W. Frank Harling
Color process	Black and white
Production company	Columbia Pictures
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	January 6, 1933 (1933-01-06) (US)
Running time	87 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Bitter Tea of General Yen is a 1933 American pre-Code drama war film directed by Frank Capra and starring Barbara Stanwyck, and featuring Nils Asther and Walter Connolly. Based on the 1930 novel of the same name by Grace Zaring Stone, the film is about an American missionary in Shanghai during the Chinese Civil War who gets caught in a battle while trying to save a group of orphans. Knocked unconscious, she is saved by a Chinese general warlord who brings her to his palace. When the general falls in love with the naive young woman, she fights her attraction to the powerful general and resists his flirtation, yet remains at his side when his fortune turns.

The Bitter Tea of General Yen was the first film to play at Radio City Music Hall upon its opening on January 6, 1933. It was also one of the first films to deal openly with interracial sexual attraction.^[1] The film was a box office failure upon its release and has since been overshadowed by Capra's later efforts. In recent years, the film has grown in critical opinion. In 2000, the film was chosen by film critic Derek Malcolm as one of the hundred best films in The Century of Films.