China Sky * (1945, Randolph Scott, Ellen Drew, Ruth Warrick, Anthony Quinn) – Classic Movie Review 10,579

Director Ray Enright’s 1945 RKO Radio Pictures black and white romantic drama China Sky, based on a novel by Pearl S Buck, is a commonplace love-triangle yarn that soon overplays its hand and abandons its interesting setting of an American mission hospital in war-torn China.

Randolph Scott and Ruth Warrick star as Dr Gray Thompson and Dr Sara Durand, who help wartime Chinese guerrilla leader Chen-Ta (Anthony Quinn) against the Japanese, until Scott’s jealous wife Louise Thompson (Ellen Drew) turns up.

None of the actors are seen at their best. But Enright directs the flat material very efficiently. The screenplay is by Brenda Weisberg and Joseph Hoffman.

The film was planned for Claudette Colbert, who wisely rejected the script.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,579

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