Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (film)

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Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
original film poster
Directed by	Henry King
Produced by	Buddy Adler
Written by	John Patrick
Starring	William Holden Jennifer Jones
Music by	Alfred Newman Sammy Fain title song
Cinematography	Leon Shamroy
Distributed by	Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Release date(s)	1955
Running time	102 min
IMDb profile

Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing is a 1955 film. Set in 1949-50 Hong Kong, it tells the story of a married but separated American reporter (played by William Holden), who falls in love with a Eurasian doctor originally from Mainland China (played by Jennifer Jones), only to encounter prejudice from her family and from Hong Kong society.

The movie was adapted by John Patrick from the 1952 novel A Many-Splendoured Thing by Han Suyin. The film was directed by Henry King.

It won Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, Color, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture and Best Music, Song (for Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster for "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing"). It was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Jennifer Jones), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color, Best Cinematography, Color, Best Picture and Best Sound, Recording.

Filming locations included Hong Kong.

The movie later inspired a television soap opera without the hyphen in the show's title in 1967.

[edit] Song

The sentimental and upbeat theme song, "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" was one of the first songs written for a movie to become #1 in the charts during the same year. The song was recorded by The Four Aces and also by Jerry Vale, and Frank Sinatra, among others.

Here's a sample of the song's lyrics:

Love is nature's way of giving

a reason to be living,

The golden crown that makes a man a king.

During the film, some romantic meetings occur on a dramatically high grassy, windswept hill in Hong Kong. That setting makes the song lyrics, which are easily heard during parts of the film, intensely romantic, as they are sung to the main theme of the song:

Once on a high and windy hill,

In the morning mist, Two lovers kissed,

And the world stood still.

The theme song, as recorded by The Four Aces, went to #1 on the charts for four weeks in 1955 (in the midst of the rock-and-roll era) and won the Academy Award for Best Song.