Inn Of The Sixth Happiness
Watch The Inn of the Sixth Happiness instantly on VUDU. A British missionary heads to 1930s China, where she spreads her gospel, falls in love and takes on a.
All her life Englishwoman Gladys Aylward knew that China was the place where she belonged. Not qualified to be sent there as a missionary, Gladys works as a domestic to earn the money to send herself to a poor, remote village. There she eventually lives a full and happy life: running the inn, acting as 'foot inspector', advising the local Mandarin and even winning the heart of mixed race Captain Lin Nan. But Gladys discovers her real destiny when the country is invaded by Japan and the Chinese children need her to save their lives. Based on a true story.
Trivia The real Gladys Aylward (1902 - 1970), born in London, was a former domestic turned missionary in China, best known for her work with children. She became a Chinese citizen in 1936.
Four years later, despite being in ill health herself, she shepherded over 100 children over the mountains to safety at the height of the Sino-Japanese war. In 1958, the year this film was released, she founded a children's home in Taiwan, which she continued to run until her death.
Known in China as 'Ai-weh-deh', or 'Virtous One', she continues to be regarded as a national heroine. I love this movie! From the first time I saw it, I dreamed of being a strong and positive influence in the lives I touched. Perhaps not so far away, but even in my own little town such influence is possible. What better role model than that of Gladys Aylward. What a powerful statement that everybody is important, that God loves us all.
It is only small men (and women) that divide people up into worthy or unworthy categories. I highly recommend that this film should be in everybody's collection. If your are looking for role models here is a good place to start. Having Ingrid Bergman in the lead is an added bonus. I loved the whole movie.
The scenery, the characters,the cast, the photography, the story. Everything about the film makes it well worth your time. Now if they would only make more movies with this much integrity in them today.
When David Cairns asked if I would write about The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958, Mark Robson, 20th Century-Fox) as part of his blog’s Late Films Blogathon, I mentally braced myself. It’s fair to say I’ve been avoiding this film, but yesterday I made myself sit down and watch. And I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it ever since. I need to tell you I can make no claims for objectivity in this piece: it’s impossible to be a fan of Robert Donat’s work without developing a deep affection for the man. He was that kind of actor (and, no doubt, that kind of man). And this, after all, is his website. The Inn of the Sixth Happiness was Robert’s final film, made when he was gravely ill.
Just a few short weeks after completing his work on it, he died. Robert’s remaining strength, I think it’s true to say, he gave to this film. Robert Donat as the Mandarin of Yang Cheng My late father was of that generation. He fought in the Second World War, then quietly filed it away and never spoke of it again (until his later years and even then, only snippets). Of course there are courageous people today, but there was a remarkable fortitude, an almost unimaginable bravery and dedication embedded in the people of that time that we can find difficult to understand today. Gladys Aylward seems to have had it, and so did Robert Donat. You see that immense bravery and Robert’s absolute dedication to his craft so clearly in this film.
He is obviously not well. In some scenes, his speech is thick, and his once magnificent voice can no longer perform with its old power. He walks hesitantly. Robert was only 53 (not much older than I am), and to see this fine, fine man brought so low is devastating.
And yet, his performance as the Mandarin is never pitiful: the truth of the character and the truth of the story are there in his portrayal, his presence fills his scenes as it always did but now with added poignancy, and his final scene with Ingrid Bergman, where the Mandarin tells Jen-ai he has become a Christian and bids her farewell, is perhaps the most genuinely moving you will see on screen. Because it is the most real. It’s all perfectly in character, but we are watching a great actor saying his final goodbye to his audience.
He knew it and so did Bergman. ‘It is time to go, old friends. Stay here for a little. It will comfort me as I leave to know it. We shall not see each other again, I think. Farewell Jen-ai.’. The great actor leaves the stage ‘I think that not having worked for five years and having been an actor all his life, he was very happy that he had this film and that he was with people he knew loved him and with his own crowd again, that his last days were working days.’ Ingrid Bergman, interviewed in 1958 (from Kenneth Barrow’s biography of Robert Donat.).
© Gill Fraser Lee, all rights reserved. Mr Chips, The Life of Robert Donat, Kenneth Barrow.
That’s a terrific piece. I wrote about Bourvil, who died at almost exactly the same age – 53 and a couple of months – but I focused on his penultimate film. Although he was certainly already affected by his terminal illness, sitting down between takes for instance, it doesn’t really show onscreen.
Inn Of The Sixth Happiness Quotes
I’ve read, though, that he’s visibly ill in parts of the final film he shot, just a few weeks later, and part of me just doesn’t want to see him in that state. Your piece is making me re-think that: no doubt Bourvil, too, saw it as a farewell to the career and audience that had served him so well.
It is sad that a man with the talent Robert Donat had did not live long enough to reap the rewards of his acting career. His faithful fans were left with an empty place in their hearts at his passing. One movie stands out to me and can tug at every emotion I have.
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness is # 1 in my book and I believe always will be.I have watched the movie so many times I can lip sync many parts.I have yet to get past the goodbyes and Robert Donats eyes expressed the words he was speaking. I now wonder if he knew he was not just speaking a part but that it would be his last role in life. Some 57 years ago I believe I saw the Inn of the Sixth Happiness as a ten year old boy. All that I remembered from that experience was the song This Old Man. Tonight I watched tit again, after stumbling onto a DVD of it in a local music/movie store. I found the experience very moving and decided to research the story and movie on the internet, which brought me to your moving and informative essay on Robert Donat and the story behind the movie, which only added to the poignancy of the movie for me. Thank you for sharing this story with all of us.
Inn Of The Sixth Happiness
Like it did for you, the movie brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion. And knowing the story behind the final scene between Bergman and Donat will make it even more indelible for me. Hi Gill, If you go to my Facebook, there is a photo of Gladys Aylward holding Sixpence I’m standing immediately to her right staring straight at the camera. I do have several other photos of me in the film. I basically was an ‘extra’. When the official ‘still’ photographer died, I inherited a hundred or so of various photographs of the film and also off screen poses etc. Of many people and settings, If we are ever near or in the same area some time, we could meet up for you to view the photos.
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My phone is 8. Unfortunately I do not know Ye Min. I do have as part of the inheritance, a full detailed list of every Chinese child from Liverpool (120) who was in the film in 1958.
Cheers for now peter.