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Posted on 05/14/2026 6:12:50 PM PDT by Merrick
I'm looking for an old b-movie and am hoping someone just might have seen and remember it. Probably 1950s or perhaps 1940s. Black and white. The story centers on a Chinese woman who has been cared for her adult life by a western man. She was hobbled through foot binding as a child so has had to be cared for. Not sure, but I think the man has recently died leaving her alone, and she is telling her story to a woman who has come to help her. AI keeps suggesting Inn of the Sixth Happiness which is absolutely wrong. Definitely a b-movie and I remember seeing it as a late-latd movie in the mid-70s. Any help identifying the movie would be appreciated.
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I cannot help you identify that movie, but the story line sounds quite charming and full of human kindness. I would like to read the novel it came from. Everyone has several stories of their life, most of which will never be told.
My dad told me about foot binding in China when I was very young, four or five. Maybe he saw the movie you’re talking about when he was young.
I do not know, but here are two candidates:
The Good Earth (1937)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028944/
China Doll (1958)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051476/
Grok gives this answer: I searched extensively across web results, movie databases, forums, identification threads (including TCM fan groups and Reddit-style “what movie is this?” posts), and targeted queries for 1940s/1950s B-movies or black-and-white films involving a Chinese woman with foot binding (or “bound feet”/”lotus feet”/hobbled), a Western/Western man caretaker/guardian/protector, his recent death leaving her alone, and her recounting her life story to a female visitor/helper (nurse, missionary, social worker, etc.).
facebook.com
No exact match turned up for a theatrical B-movie fitting that full description. Foot binding is a rare topic in mid-20th-century Western cinema (it was sensitive, visually challenging to depict realistically, and tied to heavy cultural stereotypes), so very few films from that era reference it at all.The only title that consistently appears in searches for “black and white movie/Asian/Chinese woman/foot binding” from the 1940s–1950s period is The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958, starring Ingrid Bergman as Gladys Aylward). It does involve a Western woman (missionary) working to stop foot binding in China and has scenes with bound feet/unbinding, but it’s in color (not B&W), it’s not a B-movie, the central character isn’t a hobbled Chinese woman being cared for lifelong by a Western man who dies, and there’s no frame story of her narrating her life to a female helper. You already ruled it out as “absolutely wrong,” which aligns with what I found—it doesn’t fit the caretaker/death/telling-her-story elements.
en.wikipedia.org
Other results that pop up are either:Much later films/shorts (e.g., the 1987 short Lotus, about a traditional Chinese woman with bound feet deciding whether to bind her daughter’s in 1914 rural China—no Western caretaker, no death/frame story; or 2011’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan).
Modern plays or shorts about real historical figures like Afong Moy (the first documented Chinese woman in the U.S., exhibited with her bound feet in the 1830s—no lifelong Western caretaker plot).
letterboxd.com +1
Unrelated Anna May Wong silents/talkies or other exoticized “dragon lady” roles from the era (none involve lifelong care by a Western man due to bound feet or the specific narration setup).
It’s possible this was an extremely obscure/low-budget B-picture, a U.S. or British co-production, or even a made-for-TV anthology episode (e.g., something from 1950s series like Kraft Suspense Theater, Climax!, or Playhouse 90) that got rerun in late-night movie slots in the mid-1970s and felt like a B-movie. One 1965 TV episode I found had Ann Blyth playing a Chinese widow whose “delicate steps” suggested bound feet, but the plot (set in 1850s Panama/gold rush era, involving her son as a young emperor and her seeking help from an American man) doesn’t line up with your description.
anotheroldmovieblog.blogspot.com
If any of these details ring a bell or you can add more (e.g., was the setting in China, the U.S., or England? Any actor names you vaguely recall, even minor ones? Was the Western man a doctor/missionary/guardian/lover? Any other plot points like romance, war, or a specific location?), I can dig deeper with more targeted searches. In the meantime, you might have luck posting the description on r/tipofmytongue or r/whatsthemoviecalled on Reddit, or the TCM forums—old late-night TV reruns often get identified there by people who watched the same obscure slots in the ‘70s. Sorry I couldn’t nail it immediately, but this one is tricky!
Put this description into ChatGPT or some other similar AI, and you will likely get your answer. I did this a few weeks ago and it came up with the answer in about 10 seconds.
Just like an old-time movie
‘Bout a ghost from a wishin’ well
My late MIL ha her feet bound as a child but the bindings were removed when the Empire fell.
if you want a great B/W movie, thy
Night of the Hunter
On Borrowed Time
and Witness for the Prosecution
I bet you have not seen any of them. They are fabulous. Then try to figure out what they have in common. (yes there is something)
He asked about bound foot, not Lightfoot.
What, exactly, do you mean by a ‘Western’ man?
US? British?
Cowboy ala John Wayne, on a ranch setting?
Can you be more specific?
LOLOL!!
Would doctors perform foot binding procedure if the child identifies as a pinniped?
Just askin....
It could be "The World of Suzie Wong" (1960), but it's in color and has no foot binding.
Here is what I think you mean:
It could be a 1950s British television drama, or a U.S. anthology TV episode (like Studio One, Playhouse 90, Kraft Theatre, Four Star Playhouse), or a short film or educational film about China.
These productions did tackle foot‑binding, Western caretakers, and cross‑cultural relationships — and many are now obscure.
These anthology episodes often had generic titles like “The Chinese Wife,” “The Mission House,” “The Guest,” or “The Woman from Canton,” and many are lost or poorly catalogued.
To narrow it down, give me a little bit more information by answering one or more of the following questions:
Did the Chinese woman live in a house, a mission, or an apartment?
Was the Western man a missionary, a doctor, a merchant, or something else?
Was the visiting woman a nurse, a missionary, a social worker, or just a friend?
Did the film feel like a romantic tragedy, a cultural drama, or more like a biographical story?
Several 1950s anthology dramas featured Chinese women with bound feet being cared for by Western missionaries or doctors, but most of these were never widely archived, which is why they don’t show up in standard film databases.
I just did a google search and “inn of the sixth happiness” from 1958 with ingrid bergman popped up. Is it that one?
He already said no. Inn of the Sixth Happiness is Hollywood slop at its worst, and all the more appalling because it had great source material to work with. They took a heroic true story of a lone female missionary and made it into a lame an entirely fictitious romance. In real life, among other things, she single-handedly shepherded over a hundred Chinese orphans hundreds of miles through war-torn countryside. When they finally reached safety she immediately collapsed and was insensible for days with a fever, she was so spent. She was also made an official “foot inspector” by the local Mandarin to put a stop to foot-binding, and quelled a deadly riot in a prison uprising.
Thanks for the info
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Just watched this on Blu-Ray about a month ago. Terrific movie. Lillian Gish, Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and directed by Charles Laughton of all people.
I don’t know right now - will look around.
While we’re here, I have one I would like to find. I don’t know if it was a TV episode or a movie. Long LONG ago maybe 1960 or before.
A crazy guy was being chased by motorcycle cops. He pushes a button and logs roll out of the back of his car, causing the motorcycle cops to crash and be killed.
Really got my attention in a horrible way when I was a litle kid.
Anyone ever see this? Or let the snarks begin!
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