Oil for the Lamps of China (film)
| Oil for the Lamps of China | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Mervyn LeRoy |
| Produced by | Robert Lord (uncredited supervising producer) |
| Written by |
Alice Tisdale Hobart (novel) Laird Doyle |
| Starring |
Pat O'Brien Josephine Hutchinson |
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Production
company |
First National Productions Corp.
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| Distributed by |
First National Pictures Inc. The Vitaphone Corp. |
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Release date
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Running time
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95-110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Oil for the Lamps of China is a 1935 drama film starring Pat O'Brien and Josephine Hutchinson. It is based on the novel of the same name by Alice Tisdale Hobart. A man blindly puts his faith in his employer. The film was loosely remade in 1941 as Law of the Tropics.
Ambitious, idealistic Stephen Chase (Pat O'Brien) goes to work for the Atlantis Oil Company and is sent to a remote outpost in rural China run by "No. 1 Boss" (Arthur Byron). After a while, he feels secure enough to send for his fiancée and goes to Yokohama to meet and marry her. However, when he gets there, all that is waiting for him is a telegram, in which she explains she is unwilling to live in such a backward country.
He strikes up a conversation with Hester Adams (Josephine Hutchinson). She had come to see China for the first time with her father, a professor of Oriental studies, only to have him die on the voyage. As they become better acquainted, Stephen comes up with an idea (partly to save himself from losing face). He asks Hester to marry him, explaining that it would be a partnership. She is impressed by his dream of modernizing China and accepts. It does not take long however for them to fall in love.
No matter what happens, nothing shakes Stephen's faith in the company. When his friend, No. 1 Boss, is callously transferred to a lesser position, the old man commits suicide rather than accept the insult. The new boss, J.T. McCarger (Donald Crisp), orders Stephen to man an even more isolated post near Siberia. Stephen is reluctant to go since Hester is pregnant with their first child, but has no choice. Once there, he makes the agonized decision to go deal with a dangerous oil fire rather than stay and help the doctor deliver the baby. When he returns, he learns that the child is dead. This causes a temporary rift between him and his wife.
Things improve. Stephen is promoted and assigned to a large city in the south. The Chases becomes good friends with another couple, Don and Alice Wellman (John Eldredge and Jean Muir). Don works for Stephen, but he is so contemptuous of the Chinese that two important clients refuse to renew their contracts unless he is fired. Stephen is torn, but does let Don go. Don's replacement is McCarger. Despite a prolonged drought and an outbreak of cholera, Stephen ruthlessly collects payment from his customers, earning the best record of any branch in China.
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Wikipedia