A businessman moves to Hong Kong to pursue a career as an artist and falls in love with a prostitute he hires as a model.A businessman moves to Hong Kong to pursue a career as an artist and falls in love with a prostitute he hires as a model.A businessman moves to Hong Kong to pursue a career as an artist and falls in love with a prostitute he hires as a model.
- Awards
- 1 win & 4 nominations
- Gwennie Lee
- (as Jacqui Chan)
- Dancing Soldier
- (uncredited)
- Police Officer on Ferry
- (uncredited)
- Dinner Guest
- (uncredited)
- American Sailor
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaReferring to France Nuyen's firing from the film version of "The World of Suzie Wong," the famed show biz columnist Louella Parsons wrote the following in the daily newspaper, the Chicago American, on Tuesday, February 27, 1962 (page eight) when Nuyen was cast opposite Charlton Heston in Diamond Head (1962) in '62": "As for little Miss Nuyen, things have been going much better for her recently since her bad start when she was taken out of 'The World of Suzie Wong' when she put on too much poundage worrying over M. Brando." And in its review of the film, the TV Guide site also references the firing: "Nuyen was distressed at reports from California that her lover, Marlon Brando, was carrying on with another woman, and drowning her sorrows in food. The actress gained so much weight that she was fired from the part."
- GoofsRobert Lomax's hotel suite (Borehamwood studio) faces the building across the street, but when he walks a few steps up to the outside patio (Hong Kong location) - he is thirty feet above it.
- Quotes
Gwennie Lee: Suzie, what happen? Dear, you have accident? You fall down?
Suzie Wong: [she had bitten her own lip, to make it bloody.] Robert, he beat me up.
Wednesday Lu: Oh, you steal something from him?
Suzie Wong: No, he jealous. He crazy in love with me. I tell him I have tea in his room with my girlfriends. He not believe me. He think I have tea with sailor.
Minnie Ho: Oh, we'll tell him the truth, Suzie.
Suzie Wong: He not believe you, Minnie Ho. Poor Robert, he can't help how he feels. Besides, he only hit me 8 to 10 times.
Gwennie Lee: That prove Robert very in love with you.
Wednesday Lu: Oh, you very lucky, Suzie.
Suzie Wong: I know. Tomorrow he'll be sorry. Bye, I go home now.
Suzie Wong: [to Gwennie] So sorry you not have nice man to beat you up.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Slaying the Dragon (1988)
But this film is a time capsule of the way things were. The film actually treats the Chinese rather respectfully. Even though the bar girls at the centre of the story are prostitutes, they are presented as worthwhile people and given a certain dignity although I can't imagine Elizabeth Taylor or Audrey Hepburn swapping places with Nancy Kwan when William Holden tears off her dress.
As an artist, I enjoy the art aspect of the story. It's amusing watching William Holden pretending to paint Suzie in his bedroom studio. Bill is a neat painter. No dustcoat or apron for him, even though a spatter of Alizarin Crimson or Cerulean Blue would turn his trousers into painting pants immediately - I possess about 50 pairs of painting pants.
But I have always admired the paintings he executes as the story unfolds. Bold, confidant works with powerful composition and superior draughtsmanship.
Recently I discovered that they were done by Elizabeth Moore, a sixteen-year-old art student attending Kingston Art School in London. Sixteen! Amazing. Better known as Liz Moore, her first love was sculpture. She went on to create the Star Child for Kubrick's 2001 and then the 'nude' furniture for the Korova Milk Bar scene in "A Clockwork Orange". Finally she was involved in creating the costume for C3PO and the Stormtrooper helmets for "Star Wars".
There are a couple of sites that have tributes to her and show other work including busts of The Beatles and Dame Sybil Thorndike. Another site features "The centrepiece painting from the film 'The World of Suzie Wong'", revealing thickly applied impasto. Photos of her show a vibrant blonde. Sadly that beauty and talent was crammed into too short a life. She was killed in a car crash in Holland in 1976 aged only 32.
To those who know, "The World of Suzie Wong" is a legacy to that burgeoning talent and a gift that would seem to have been divinely inspired.
- tomsview
- May 1, 2018
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Svet Suzi Vong
- Filming locations
- Hong Kong, China(Exterior)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $7,300,000
- Runtime2 hours 6 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1