Daisy Robinson

The Bitter Tea of General Yen is the oddest, least characteristic talkie effort of director Frank Capra. Barbara Stanwyck stars as the intended of an American missionary (Gavin Gordon) who is sent to spread the good word in China. During a military revolution, Stanwyck and her fiance inadvertently wander into forbidden territory while trying to help a group of orphans escape. The couple is forcibly detained by elegant warlord General Yen (played by Swedish actor Nils Ashter), who relies upon the financial advice of drunken American expatriate Walter Connolly. Yen is overcome with desire at the sight of Stanwyck; at first repulsed by his attentions, Stanwyck finds herself strangely drawn in by his charisma. When everyone but Connolly deserts Yen when he needs them most, Stanwyck offers to stay behind with the General. Fearing that he will never be able to truly attain the woman he so loves, the honorable General Yen commits suicide by drinking poisoned tea rather than put her in harm's way. The one scene that everyone remembers takes place during one of Stanwyck's fevered dreams, in which she imagines Yen as a Fu Manchu-type rapist, who then melts into a gentle, courtly suitor. Directed with the exotic aplomb of a Josef von Sternberg by the usually down-to-earth Frank Capra, The Bitter Tea of General Yen was unfortunately a box office failure, due in great part to its miscegenation theme (this was still 1933). Even so, the film was chosen as the first attraction at the new Radio City Music Hall. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When nineteenth century theatergoers thought of Rip Van Winkle, they pictured him as actor Joseph Jefferson. Rip was Jefferson's signature role, and later on his son, Thomas Jefferson took up where he left off and starred in the film version. It remains true to the story -- Rip's love for a drunken good time infuriates his wife Gretchen (Milla Davenport). He runs afoul of some mountain gnomes who give him a libation that puts him to sleep for 20 years. When he awakes he discovers that his wife married the man who wanted his property, and no one in the village recognizes him. But he is finally able to convince his daughter, Meenie (Daisy Robinson) of his identity. Perhaps the biggest problem with this picture was its location -- the hills of Southern California were a poor imitation of the Catskills, and the Hudson River was nowhere to be found. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Julian Eltinge was the most famous female impersonator of his day -- in fact, Buster Keaton built a joke around his name alone in Seven Chances. So it's no surprise that although he has a male role in this action-packed comedy, the character winds up wearing women's clothing for a good portion of the picture. Temple Trask (Eltinge) publishes a newspaper that has an advice to the lovelorn column written by a "Mrs. Carfax" who happens to be Trask himself. At a college reunion, he brags about being able to impersonate a woman to his old pal, Billy Wise (Fred Church). Wise makes a bet that he won't dare appear in women's clothing in public, and Trask takes him on. But while thus attired, he spies swindler Adrian Graw (Noah Beery) plying his wiles on Trask's sweetheart, Helen Scott (Daisy Robinson). Trask spends the rest of the film as Mrs. Carfax in the flesh, tracking down Graw, his partner Rena Varsey (Rosita Marstini), and retrieving the bonds the pair have stolen from Helen's grandmother, Mary Keyes (Jennie Lee). This was Eltinge's second picture for Paramount. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide