The Inn of the Sixth Happiness The Inn of the Sixth Happiness The Inn of the Sixth Happiness is a 1958 DeLuxe Color 20th Century Fox CinemaScope film based on the true story of Gladys Aylward, a tenacious British maid, who became a missionary in China during the tumultuous years leading up to the Second World War. Directed by Mark Robson, who received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director, the film stars Ingrid Bergman as Aylward and Curt Jürgens as her love interest, Captain Lin Nan, a Chinese officer with a Dutch father. Robert Donat, who played the mandarin of the town in
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness contacts in China. Over the next few months, Aylward saves her money to purchase a ticket on the Trans-Siberian railway, choosing the more dangerous overland route to the East because it is less expensive. Once in China, she settles in the town of Yang Cheng, where she secures a post as assistant to a veteran missionary, Jeannie Lawson (Athene Seyler). Lawson has set up an inn for travelling merchants, where they can get a hot meal and hear stories from the Bible. The film follows Aylward's acculturation, culminating in her taking over the inn when Lawson dies in an accident.