I picked this up for very little, drawn partly by the fact it had Gene Tierney in and I had never heard of it. I was also drawn by the reminder of the David Bowie song! Maybe I should have steered clear, for while this probably does have its fans, this war drama was certainly not my cup of tea (Chinese or otherwise - sorry about that!). It is a ridiculous tale set in the early days of WW2 and George Montgomery spends about a third of his time escaping or avoiding the Japanese and the rest flirting, first with Lynn Bari and then quite unbelievably, Gene Tierney, who just as unbelievably plays the titular Chinese girl! Apart from Gene Tierney who is very effective, allowing for the fact you cannot accept there is anything Chinese about her, but the only other interest in the film are the politics. Here the Americans are sympathetic with the poor Chinese and try to help them as much as possible defend themselves against the Japanese who are portrayed appallingly. So Chinese good, Japanese bad - how things change.
Review of China Girl
