To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen's Journey

Nancy Kwan broke a Hollywood barrier in 1960, becoming the first Eurasian actress to star in a major studio film: The World of Suzie Wong, in which the young ballet student was cast serendipitously as a Hong Kong prostitute who falls in love with a painter (William Holden). Kwan followed up in Ross Hunter's lavish 1961 adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway musical Flower Drum Song, playing a vivacious dancer in a San Francisco Chinatown club. Neither film was well received, but as Brian Jamieson's almost hagiographic biography makes clear, they represent the apex of Kwan's career. The documentary traces Kwan's life chronologically from her childhood to the present, interspersing contemporary scenes of Kwan attending a performance of a Suzie Wong ballet in Hong Kong. Approximately equal attention is given to Kwan's screen work—which soon found her relegated to second-rate films—and her personal life, particularly her close relationship with her Chinese father, distant one with her British mother, and brief marriage to an Austrian man that resulted in the birth of her only child, a son she doted on until his tragic death. While Kwan's story is interesting—enlivened by film clips and other archival material—it's also undermined by Jamieson's lethargic approach and by banal narration and interview excerpts. DVD extras include a collection of watercolor paintings made by Jin G. Kam for the documentary, and a photo gallery. Earnest but languid, this is an optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)