Search - Love is a Many-Splendored Thing on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1955 DVD Release: 03/07/2000 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 42 mins Studio: 20th Century Fox Members Wishing: 8 Genres: Drama, Romance, Romantic Drama, Melodrama See Also: Love is a Many-Splendored Thing

Based on the autobiographical novel by Han Suyin, Love is a Many Splendored Thing was evocatively location-filmed in Hong Kong. Jennifer Jones plays Ms. Suyin, a Eurasian doctor and the widow of a Chinese general. She falls in love with American news correspondent Mark Elliot (William Holden), who unfortunately cannot obtain a divorce from his present wife. This, together with the disapproval of Dr. Suyin's tradition-bound relatives and Hong Kong's strict racial laws, forces the couple to carry on their romance in a clandestine fashion. The romance ends in tragedy, but with renewed hope for a happier future. The one lasting legacy of Love is a Many Splendored Thing is its Oscar-winning title song, written by Paul Fain and Sammy Webster; Oscars also went to Alfred Newman's musical score and Charles LeMaire's costume design. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

William Holden - Mark Elliott
Jennifer Jones - Han Suyin
Torin Thatcher - Mr. Palmer-Jones
Isobel Elsom - Adeline Palmer-Jones
Virginia Gregg - Ann Richards
Murray Matheson - Dr. Tam

Starting in the mid-'50s, the movie studios began using different widescreen processes along with Technicolor and exotic location shooting in order to lure viewers away from their television sets. The soapy but still highly effective Love Is a Many Splendored Thing was one of those 1950s blockbusters that quickly got butchered on TV with the pan-and-scan process that essentially cut out half the screen. Thankfully, this 20th Century Fox DVD returns the William Holden film to its original splendor. The widescreen transfer isn't in the superior anamorphic process but it's surprisingly good, showing off the film's Hong Kong locales beautifully and rarely pixilating the digitized images, and the original mono audio track has been converted to Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo to no negative effect. Included DVD extras are a digital photo gallery from the location shoot and a number of trailers for many of the biggest movies of the 1950s. ~ Nick Dedina, All Movie Guide