China Venture


China Venture is a 1953 American adventure war film directed by Don Siegel and starring Edmond O'Brien, Barry Sullivan and Jocelyn Brando. It was produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The plot concerns an American patrol sent into South China during World War II to rescue an important prisoner held by Chinese guerrillas.

Plot

In 1945, during World War II, a Japanese admiral is severely injured in an airplane crash in a remote jungle. He possesses vital intelligence that may affect the course of the war. A joint American team of Marines and Navy personnel are deployed to locate the admiral and interrogate him before he dies from his wounds. The mission is plagued by both the Japanese occupiers and Chinese guerilla forces. Captain Matt Reardon and Commander Bert Thompson clash initially, but grow to respect one another before Thompson is murdered at the hands of Wu King.
The Japanese prisoner is successfully delivered to a US submarine, and his interrogation reveals that the Japanese military is determined to fight to the bitter end. The picture closes with documentary footage of a mushroom cloud, suggesting the Americans resort to atomic warfare to defeat Japan.

Cast

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Theme

China Venture is almost unique among Seigel's films, in that it lacks the key character elements that normally preoccupy the director. The protagonists do not struggle with heroic vs. anti-heroic tendencies, nor does a femme fatale emerge to manipulate male characters. Pessimism, manifested in a damaged hero, is largely absent. Biographer Judith M. Kass writes:
Kass adds that “the only woman present is responsible for saving the admiral's life and is neither seductive nor fatal, rather the opposite, while retaining her femininity.”