Ingrid Bergman has charmed Hollywood and the European cinema with so many unforgettable roles that declaring a single movie of her as her best would come at the expense of fairness. Yet when she played the British missionary Gladys Aylward in Mark Robson’s The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, she went straight to capture the soul of the viewers.
Essentially a faith-based movie that is at once adventure and drama, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness enacts the real-life journey of Aylward from England to China in the years shortly before the Second World War to fulfill her dream of preaching Christ to the Chinese. She worked toward this mission against so many odds and found her destined home at a rural Chinese inn. Helping the community in every way possible, Aylward would choose to stay in China when it came under attack by the Japanese and would risk her own life to save dozens of Chinese children from death and injuries.
Calling this movie a gem would be an understatement. The work put into its making and attention to detail are awe-inspiring. Bergman’s character and performance towers over the other figures in the movie, literally and figuratively; Bergman, a tall Swedish beauty, playing Aylward, who was known as “The Small Woman” in real life, brings a behind-the-scenes contrast to this casting choice. Also through the movie, Aylward is shown interacting mainly with men in decision-making about the town and much less with women, creating a contrast based on gender roles in the traditional Chinese setting.
There are funny moments in the story arising mainly from cultural differences meeting on the screen ranging from a Russian official misreading Aylward’s work as “machinery” (for missionary) to the narrative errors made by the Chinese cook Yang (Peter Chong) at the inn while telling the story of Jesus, and more. A little romantic thread is run through the movie’s story with Captain Lin (Curt Jürgens) presented as Bergman’s love interest – though the historicity of such a connection has been questioned.
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness is a movie of faith and the determination to do good in God’s name. It’s an immortal theme instantiated in the immortal character of Gladys Aylward and given eternal cinematic life in Bergman’s performance.
