Dragon Seed (film)

A peaceful Chinese village is invaded by the Japanese prior to World War II. The men elect to adopt a peaceful attitude towards their conquerors, and the women are understood to stoically acquiesce as well, but Jade, a headstrong young woman, intends to stand up to the Japanese, whether her husband Lao Er approves or not. She even goes so far as to learn to read and to handle a weapon so that she may be properly equipped for both psychological and physical combat. Jade's attitude spreads to the rest of the village, convincing even the staunchest of male traditionalists that the Japanese can only be defeated by offering a strong united front, male and female. ==Cast==

Reportedly Judy Garland wanted the role of Jade. ==Reception==

Film critic and author James Agee reviewed it in 1944: " Dragon Seed is an almost unimaginably bad movie." Leslie Halliwell gave it one of four stars: "Ill-advised attempt to follow the success of The Good Earth: badly cast actors mouth propaganda lines in a mechanical script which provokes more boredom and unintentional laughter than sympathy.". Leonard Maltin gave the film two and a half out of four stars in his Movie Guide: "Well-meant but overlong film...fascinating attempts at Oriental characterization." ==Box office==

According to MGM records, the film earned $3,033,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $1,594,000 elsewhere, but, because of its high cost, it incurred a loss to the studio of $281,000. ==See also==