Dragon Seed

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Audience Member An interesting story that is ruined by ridiculous yellowface, a bad script and poor acting. The film concerns a Chinese family that lives on a farm and their quaint lives are devastated by an invading Japanese force. The most distracting thing in this film is the yellow face. You just can't get past as it is so distracting. The script does not help either as it is filled with hundreds of metaphors which become so tiresome. Agnes Moorehead's acting stood out as the most ridiculous out of an already badly acted cast. Hepburn's wooden acting and Huston's makeup (?) and exasperating metaphors do not help the film. Aline MacMahon was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as the mother of the family, and while her acting was okay, her acting is not worthy of an Oscar nomination and is also not nearly as good as Angela Lansbury's acting in Gaslight (the only other nominee I have seen). I think that the basic story was intriguing and the cinematography and production design was well done but the acting and the script is a real hinderance to this film. The cinematography was also Oscar-nominated which, out of the nominees I have seen, was better than Hitchcock's Lifeboat but not as good as Gaslight. The first half of the film is very focused on wife-beating (which is ironic as the film was written by two women and is listed as F-rated on IMDb) and the ending is also very abrupt and does not serve as a satisfying conclusion. The Japanese are also portrayed to be moustache-twirling villains (unsurprising, as the film was made during WW2). Overall, the film serves as a poor adaptation of Pearl S. Buck's work and, even when discounting the yellow face, is just a laughably bad and boring film. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review steve d Racist and poorly acted. Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review ashley h Dragon Seed is an excellent film. It is about the lives of a small Chinese village which are turned upside down when the Japanese invade it. Katherine Hepburn and Walter Huston give incredible performances. The screenplay is well written. Harold S. Bucquet did a great job directing this movie. I enjoyed watching this movie because of the drama. Dragon Seed is a must see. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member In the beginning stages of watching this movie I could not get my myself attached to the movie. The lack of Asian actors in any of the main or substantial roles was an immediate turnoff. As the further along I watched I was starting to understand probably around that time the English language was still difficult for many of the Chinese to command, not just the fact that Hollywood of course was still operating under a bias and racist platform in the purest of form. I started to engaged in the story of a family whose love and loyalty toward not just each other but to the entire Chinese culture are being tested during the Japanese attacks pre WW2. Look past the odd makeup and get ups and one can see the acting by Hepburn and Huston along with others was adequate. This film does not have a standard to say for Hepburn to excel in this role. It does not call for her to shine because the story does not fit with her best qualities as an actress. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member hepburn playing asian actually all asian roles played by white actors doesn't hold up well today Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member The script was rather ridiculous and Hepburn unconvincing. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Dragon Seed

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