i watch this movie with some curiosity . i want to see if 1 ) paul muni could play chinese and 2 ) luise rainer deserve her oscar . i come away from the film think yes . have see muni in only one film where he be quite hammy and i expect the same type of performance here . i be happily prove wrong . although some might criticize him a be too childlike and stereotypically simple in the hollywood idea of asian and i think he be just right in the role . keye luke and if he would be give the chance to play a lead role and might have play him in much the same manner . i be particularly impress by the camera work and the use of crowd scene and especially during the sacking of the palace where o lan be once a slave . the graphic and grim atmosphere of the firing squad and the drought make this an epic quite unlike others of the same time where it be all glitz and glitter . i watch this film from begin to end enthralled . i can not say the same for the epic of today .