Synopsis: An English bacteriologist lives in Shanghai with his wife, who starts an affair with the English consul. The husband finds out and (after a few events which I will not describe here) they move to a remote region in China, where he will be in charge of putting an end to a cholera epidemic.
Appraisal: I am acquainted with the works of Somerset Maugham mostly through film adaptations. I usually like him, but, based on this film alone, I suppose his 1925 novel on which it is based is probably one of the less exciting stories coming from his pen. It is rather antiquated, even by Maugham's standards, and I can't explain its being remade into a film unless the average viewer's mind is actually also a little antiquated by my standards. Any modern woman will probably scoff at the situation faced by the film's heroine. Anyway, it is quite competently (albeit also conventionally) done, and is not a bad way of spending two hours.
Rating: 57
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