Synopsis
William Holden is an artist in Hong Kong. After an inane meet-cute, he falls in love withSusie Wong (Nancy Kwan), who turns out to be a prostitute. After the initial romance, all sorts ofteeth-clenching and agonizing of this and that make up the rest of the film. Pure soap-operatics,in other words. Having Holden fall in love with a forbidden woman in Hong Kong is just a bittoo reminiscent of Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (which itself is prettyunintentionally funny…, and The World of Susie Wong isn’t up to the comparison.
Audio
The audio is the original mono, and sounds fine. There is no distortion of hiss to speak of,and the volume level is fine. Not too much to say beyond that, other than to express a preferencefor the mono over a bad stereo remix.
Video
The film gets off on the wrong foot, with a ghastly-looking credit sequence, a nightmare ofdirt and grain, with colours that are none too stable, and in some cases look so aged the entireframe assumes a pink wash. After the credits, we’re are firmer ground, though the colours arenever enormously strong and minor fluctuations continue. Grain improves, but never goes awayentirely, and there are some flares and other blemishes on the print.
Special Features
None.
Closing Thoughts
Full-on melodrama with plenty of shots of Hong Kong. In some ways, this 1960 effort is anexample of the tired output from the studios that made the revolution in the industry thatfollowed so necessary.
