| Dragon Seed | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | Dragon Seed byPearl S. Buck |
| Produced by | Pandro S. Berman |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Sidney Wagner |
| Edited by | Harold F. Kress |
| Music by | Herbert Stothart |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Loew's Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 147 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million[1] |
| Box office | $4.6 million[1] |
Dragon Seed is a 1944 Americanwardrama film, about Japan's WWII-era actions in China. The movie directed byJack Conway andHarold S. Bucquet, based on the 1942novel of the same name byPearl S. Buck. The film starsKatharine Hepburn,Walter Huston,Aline MacMahon,Akim Tamiroff, andTurhan Bey. It portrays a peaceful village in China that has been invaded by theImperial Japanese Army during theSecond Sino-Japanese War. The men in the village choose to adopt a peaceful attitude toward their conquerors, but the headstrong Jade (Hepburn) stands up to the Japanese.
Aline MacMahon was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
A peaceful Chinese village is invaded by the Japanese prior to World War II. The men elect to adopt a peaceful attitude towards their conquerors, and the women are understood to stoically acquiesce as well, but Jade, a headstrong young woman, intends to stand up to the Japanese, whether her husband Lao Er approves or not. She even goes so far as to learn to read and to handle a weapon so that she may be properly equipped for both psychological and physical combat. Jade's attitude spreads to the rest of the village, convincing even the staunchest of male traditionalists that the Japanese can only be defeated by offering a strong united front, male and female.[2]
ReportedlyJudy Garland wanted the role of Jade.[citation needed]
Film critic and authorJames Agee reviewed it in 1944: " Dragon Seed is an almost unimaginably bad movie."[3]Leslie Halliwell gave it one of four stars: "Ill-advised attempt to follow the success ofThe Good Earth: badly cast actors mouth propaganda lines in a mechanical script which provokes more boredom and unintentional laughter than sympathy.".[4]Leonard Maltin gave the film two and a half out of four stars in hisMovie Guide: "Well-meant but overlong film...fascinating attempts at Oriental characterization."[5]
According to MGM records, the film earned $3,033,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $1,594,000 elsewhere, but, because of its high cost, it incurred a loss to the studio of $281,000.[1]
