The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
Original film poster
Directed by	Mark Robson
Produced by	Buddy Adler
Written by	Alan Burgess (book) Isobel Lennart
Starring	Ingrid Bergman, Curd Jürgens, Robert Donat
Music by	Malcolm Arnold
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	December 11, 1958
Running time	158 min.
Language	English, Mandarin, Japanese, Russian
IMDb profile

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness is a 1958 20th Century Fox film based on the true story of Gladys Aylward, a tenacious British maid, who became a missionary in China during the tumultuous years leading up to World War II. Directed by Mark Robson, who received an Academy Award for Directing nomination, the film stars Ingrid Bergman as Aylward and Curt Jurgens as her love interest, Colonel Lin Nan, a Chinese officer with a Dutch father. Robert Donat, who played the mandarin of the town in which Aylward lived, died before the film was released. The musical score was composed by Malcolm Arnold. The cinematography was by Freddie Young. Image File history File links Inn_Of_Sixth_Happiness_02(1958). ... Mark Robson (December 4, 1913 – June 20, 1978) was a Canadian-born film editor, film director and producer in Hollywood. ... Maurice Buddy Adler (1909 - 1960) was a United States movie producer. ... Isobel Lennart (May 18, 1915 - January 25, 1971) was an American screenwriter and playwright. ...   (pronounced in Swedish, but usually in English, IPA notation) (August 29, 1915 – August 29, 1982) was a three-time Academy Award-winning and two-time Emmy Award-winning Swedish actress. ... Jürgens in a scene from Der Kommissar (1973) Curd Jürgens (December 13, 1915 - June 18, 1982) was a German stage and motion-picture actor. ... Friedrich Robert Donath (March 18, 1905 – June 9, 1958), better known by his stage name Robert Donat, was a distinguished English film and stage actor of English, Polish and German descent. ... Sir Malcolm Arnold Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold, CBE (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. ... Twentieth (20th) Century Fox Film Corporation (known from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation) is one of the major American film studios. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... December 11 is the 345th day (346th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... // Events February 16- In the Money is released on this date. ... Twentieth (20th) Century Fox Film Corporation (known from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation) is one of the major American film studios. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Gladys Aylward (Chinese name: 艾偉德, pinyin: Ai. ... A missionary is traditionally defined as a propagator of religion who works to convert those outside that community; someone who proselytizes. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Mark Robson (December 4, 1913 – June 20, 1978) was a Canadian-born film editor, film director and producer in Hollywood. ... The Academy Award for Directing is an accolade given to the person that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences feels was best director of the past year. ...   (pronounced in Swedish, but usually in English, IPA notation) (August 29, 1915 – August 29, 1982) was a three-time Academy Award-winning and two-time Emmy Award-winning Swedish actress. ... Jürgens in a scene from Der Kommissar (1973) Curd Jürgens (December 13, 1915 - June 18, 1982) was a German stage and motion-picture actor. ... Friedrich Robert Donath (March 18, 1905 – June 9, 1958), better known by his stage name Robert Donat, was a distinguished English film and stage actor of English, Polish and German descent. ... Sir Malcolm Arnold Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold, CBE (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. ... Freddie Young (9th October, 1902 - 1st December, 1998), (sometimes credited as Frederick A. Young) was one of Britains most distinguished and influential cinematographers. ...

The film was shot in Britain, including Snowdonia in Wales, and some of the main Chinese characters were played by Europeans, including Robert Donat. Most of the children used in the film were little Scouse Chinese kids, as North Wales is close to Liverpool, Liverpool has Britain's oldest Chinese community. At one point in the film the kids can be heard singing "The Farmer wants a wife" and they sound suspiciously like scouse accents. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the country. ... Friedrich Robert Donath (March 18, 1905 – June 9, 1958), better known by his stage name Robert Donat, was a distinguished English film and stage actor of English, Polish and German descent. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

Plot

The story begins with Aylward being rejected as a potential missionary to China because of her lack of education. Dr.Robinson, the senior missionary, feels sorry for her and secures her a position in the home of a veteran explorer with contacts in China. Over the next few months, Aylward saves her money to purchase a ticket on the Trans-Siberian railway, choosing the more dangerous overland route to the East because it is less expensive. Trans-Siberian line in red; Baikal Amur Mainline in green. ...

Once in China, she settles in the town of Yang Cheng, where she secures a post as assistant to a veteran missionary, Jeannie Lawson (played by Athene Seyler), who has set up an inn for traveling merchants, where they can get a hot meal and hear stories from the Bible. The film follows Aylward's acculturation, culminating in her taking over the inn when Lawson dies in an accident. Athene Seyler (May 31, 1889 - September 12, 1990) was an English actress. ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library of Congress. ...

The local mandarin appoints Aylward, a stubborn but endearing woman, as his Foot Inspector to ensure that the ancient practice of foot binding is eradicated in the region he governs. She succeeds in this, and manages to put down a prison revolt as well, winning her the esteem of the local population as well as of the mandarin. Meanwhile, however, China is being invaded by Japan, and Aylward is encouraged by Lin to leave. She refuses, and as the town of Yang Cheng comes under attack, she finds that she has fifty orphans in her care. X-ray of bound feet. ...

As the population prepares to evacuate the town, the mandarin announces that he is converting to Christianity as a final tribute to Aylward. Aylward is overcome with emotion, but is now left alone with the children, aided by Lee, the former leader of the prison revolt that she helped to resolve (played by Burt Kwouk). Lin tells her that the only hope for safety is to take the children to the next province, where trucks will drive them to safety, but they must get there within three weeks, or else the trucks will leave without them. Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... Burt Kwouk (Chinese: 郭弼; pinyin: Guō Bì) (born July 18, 1930), is an actor who was born in Manchester, England because my mother happened to be there but was raised in Shanghai between the ages of ten months and seventeen years. ...

Just as they are preparing to leave, another fifty orphans appear from a neighbouring town, so Aylward and Lee have no choice but to lead one hundred children on a trek across the countryside. Although it should only have taken them a week, the roads are infested with Japanese patrols, and the group has no choice but to cut across the mountains. After a long, difficult journey, they all arrive safely (except for Lee, who gave his life to save them from a Japanese patrol) on the day the trucks are to leave. Aylward is greeted by Dr.Robinson, whom she reminds how he rejected her as a missionary years before.

The film culminates with the column of children, led by Aylward, marching into the town, singing the song "This Old Man" to keep up their spirits. This Old Man is a nursery rhyme of unknown origin. ...

Critical reaction

Ingrid Bergman on DVD cover

• The film has been criticized as having the most inauthentic casting, showing Ingrid Bergman, tall with a Swedish accent, as Gladys Aylward, who was short and had a London accent. Robert Donat, a British actor who was not Chinese at all, played the mandarin, and the Austrian actor Curt Jurgens was Colonel Lin.

• The film was based on the book The Small Woman (1957), by Alan Burgess.

• The real-life Gladys has reportedly commented that most of the story in the film is fiction and she never knew any one remotely like Colonel Lin.

Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (492x700, 42 KB) Low-res DVD cover used solely to illustrate article on The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (film); fair use claimed. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (492x700, 42 KB) Low-res DVD cover used solely to illustrate article on The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (film); fair use claimed. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Friedrich Robert Donath (March 18, 1905 – June 9, 1958), better known by his stage name Robert Donat, was a distinguished English film and stage actor of English, Polish and German descent. ... Jürgens in a scene from Der Kommissar (1973) Curd Jürgens (December 13, 1915 - June 18, 1982) was a German stage and motion-picture actor. ...

Trivia

• Sean Connery was considered for the role of Colonel Lin. The screen tests from this can be seen on the DVD.
• Inn of the Sixth Happiness inspired Penny Rimbaud, latterly founder and drummer of punk band Crass, to set up the Dial House 'open house' in 1967^[1].

Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930) is an Academy Award-winning Scottish actor and producer who is perhaps best known as the first actor to portray James Bond in a number of films. ... Penny Rimbaud circa 1977 Jeremy John Ratter (born 8 June 1943, Northwood, Middlesex, England), better known under his pseudonym of Penny Rimbaud, is a drummer, writer, poet, former member of performance art group EXIT and co-founder of the anarchist punk band Crass with Steve Ignorant in 1977. ... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... For information about the anarchist writer see Chris Crass Crass was an influential English anarchist punk rock band. ... Dial House is a sixteenth-century farm cottage nestling deep in the countryside in Essex, England, fringing Epping Forest. ...

References

1. ^ There is No Authority But Yourself, dir. Alexander Oey, 2006

There is No Authority But Yourself is a Dutch film directed by Alexander Oey documenting the history of anarchist punk band Crass. ... Alexander Oey is a Dutch film director who has directed numerous documentaries for Dutch television, including the controversial Euro-Islam According to Tariq Ramadan and My Life as a Terrorist: The Story of Hans-Joachim Klein, as well as There is No Authority But Yourself, a documentary on the punk...

External links

• The Inn of the Sixth Happiness at the Internet Movie Database
• The Inn of the Sixth Happiness at the TCM Movie Database