Although both the original and the film inevitably carry the Western "pride and prejudice" towards China, Conway has been my favorite fictional character almost from the time I read the original (of course). , I've read too few books, and I don't know too many fictional characters, which is also one of the reasons that make Conway the meat on the apex of my heart).
Conway's character is described in the original book as follows:
"There's a quality in his personality that some might see as slack, but it's not. Although he's not positive at heart and doesn't like responsibility at all, no one can bear more humiliation than him when it matters. , and no one is more responsible than him. The job requires him, and he does it to the best of his ability. But he always intends that if someone can replace him or do it better, he will give up immediately. Mostly because of this The reason is that although he has achieved remarkable achievements in the army, he is far from exerting his full ability. He has no ambition to climb up by stepping on others, and he will not pretend to be busy when he has nothing to do. He is capable of doing things, He was also calm, and people admired his calmness, but suspected that it was too unreal. The superiors like to see a man striving to restrain himself, and to disguise noble feelings with superficial indifference. Some people speculate darkly about him , think he is as cold as he looks, and he is indifferent no matter what happens. But like saying he is lazy, it is not an accurate reading. Most people ignore the simple and difficult The qualities of understanding - a love of calm, contemplation and solitude."
"There was also in his nature trait which some people might have called laziness, though it was not quite that. No one was capable of harder work, when it had to be done, and few could better shoulder responsibility; but the facts remained that he was not passionately fond of acitivity, and did not enjoy responsibility at all. Both were included in his job, and he made the best of them, but he was always ready to gibe way to anyone else who could function as well or better. It was partly this, no doubt, that had made his success in the service less striking than it might have been. He was not ambitious enough to shove his way past others, or to make an important parade of doing nothing when there was really nothing doing. His dispatches were sometimes laconic to the point of curtness, and hig calm in emergencies, though admired,was often suspected of being too sincere. Authority like to feel that a man is imposing some effort on himself, and that his apparent nonchalance is only a cloak to disguise an outfit of well-bred emotions. With Conway the dark suspision had somtimes been current that he really was as unruffled as he looked, and that whatever happened, he did not give a damn. But this, too, like the laziness, was an imperfect interpretation. What most observers failed to preveive in him was something quite bafflingly simple, a love of quiteness, contemplation, and being alone."With Conway the dark suspision had somtimes been current that he really was as unruffled as he looked, and that whatever happened, he did not give a damn. But this, too, like the laziness, was an imperfect interpretation. What most observers failed to preveive in him was something quite bafflingly simple, a love of quiteness, contemplation, and being alone."With Conway the dark suspision had somtimes been current that he really was as unruffled as he looked, and that whatever happened, he did not give a damn. But this, too, like the laziness, was an imperfect interpretation. What most observers failed to preveive in him was something quite bafflingly simple, a love of quiteness, contemplation, and being alone."
It is a pity that it is extremely difficult to show such a text description in the film.
Conway is also not suitable for having a love line. In my impression, there is no love line in the original book.
According to an interview with IMDB and capra himself: " Frank Capra 's first cut of the film ran for 6 hours. The first public preview took place in Santa Barbara when the film ran for 3 1/2 hours. Re-shooting and re-cutting followed immediately after this disastrous preview." It's a shame, like wondering what the cut out of Gone with the Wind was, wondering what a 6h or 3 1/2h version would look like.
In many ways, colman is almost the most suitable conway in my mind. According to IMDB: " Frank Capra hated screen tests. Scripts were developed with specific actors in mind. Ronald Colman was first choice to play Conway from the very beginning." and "Production was postponed for 18 months waiting for Ronald Colman to be available." Surprised by such a coincidence. Colman is British, comes from at least a middle-class family, has excellent studies (so he has plans to study at Cambridge), and participated in the First World War... As a descendant, it is difficult for us to arbitrarily speculate on whether Colman is in personality traits only through the information of the guide There is a lot of overlap with conway, but vaguely, I do think colman and conway are similar.
Colman wears the button-up clothing of Chinese men at that time, which is not abrupt in style. In fact, when we Chinese living in China after modernization, when we wear the clothes of the past, there is a high probability of showing the violation of the real.
Insert a few words about the original author, James Hilton, a perhaps not-so-famous novelist who has also written works such as Goodbye Mr. Chips, Mrs. Miniver, and Randon Harvest. This Cambridge alumnus should be from a wealthy family. The Leys secondary school he attended - also in Cambridge, is still very expensive. The tuition fee is comparable to that of international students in Cambridge. I don't know if any Douyou can read this middle school.
Finally, IMDB includes this interesting fact: "Bob Gitt of the UCLA Film & Television Archives claims the original opening sequence in 1937 had title cards "Conway has been sent to evacuate ninety white people before they're butchered in a local revolution" was changed in 1942 for a special reissue during WWII. The title cards read "before innocent Chinese people were butchered by Japanese hordes." This was to bolster propaganda against the Japanese." But the 132min version I saw was still used The opening credits of the 1937 edition.
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