It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The central theme of this film (based on a true story) is that true love is strong enough to overcome all obstacles. The obstacle in this case is prejudice against those from other cultures. William Holden and Jennifer Jones play the American man and the Eurasian woman who meet in Hong Kong and find love despite the taboos they dare to challenge.The primary problem with this premise is that Jones, by appearance, is not convincingly and consistently Eurasian. She overcomes some of this by her manner and speech.As a fan of Holden, I cannot ignore a comparison with "Picnic", also released in 1955.In both films, Holden is the outsider--a rebellious figure viewed with suspicion, a flaunter of community standards. But in "Picnic", Holden's character must struggle to overcome his own doubts, making the struggle more meaningful and central to his character's development.In both films, there is a musical theme that is strong. In "Picnic", the theme is better used, an actual part of the action that links the two lovers together (through dance).In "Picnic", the love scenes are electric, charged with passion and a hunger for what might be called salvation. In "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing", the kisses are sometimes passionate, sometimes lukewarm, perhaps due to the emotional distance between the two stars, well documented.Though the love story in "Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing" can feel subordinate to the larger story of cultural differences, which is undeniably interesting, in "Picnic" the love story is what every element revolves around.

I'll settle on a "so bad it's good" rating of five stars. Zero as a romantic tear-jerker, but ten for the polar opposite: this film afforded the heartiest belly laughs I've had in a while.Tellingly, indulgent reviews seem to use the word "aspirations" a lot, as in "this film had aspirations of exploring inter-racial relationships".So just dismiss the overblown affectations and have fun roasting the contraction-free English, stilted romance (the leads hated each other and it shows), clunky foreshadowing, and cornball (rice ball?) dialogue. Best enjoyed in the company of a similarly lampoon-minded friend.

I often enjoy love stories, but this one was sappy and dumb -- though set against a dazzling Hong Kong backdrop.Jennifer Jones was saccharine and one-note as a Eurasian doctor as obsessed with her bi-racial heritage as with an American war correspondent who would never marry her.I found William Holden as her friend -- it's implied their love was never consummated -- similarly unappealing. He was always late and breaking dates, yet rarely seeming to write anything. What a cad.The acting of the Chinese characters in the film was often so stilted as to be absurd. Were these professional thespians? I will admit the film has a few good lines, though they sometimes sounded like they came from fortune cookies: "A great many mistakes are made in the name of loneliness." "There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness." "To go on living one must be occasionally unwise." "I won't be sad -- sadness is so ungrateful." One could tell from the start this story would not end well. I managed to get through it due only to mild curiosity about how, exactly, it would all turn out.

This film is set in Hong Kong during the final days of the Chinese Communist Revolution and the beginning of the Korean War. William Holden is a correspondent who falls for a half-Chinese doctor (Jennifer Jones) and many things seem to be conspiring against their love."Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" is a lovely film. It's very glossy, colorful, filled with tremendous locations and a nice theme song. However, it also is filled with very sappy dialog, characters who are difficult to really like and that #^$@ theme song, as they play it INCESSANTLY!!! It not only wells up when the two lovers are in a clinch, but when they turn on the record player and, well, ALL THE TIME! While pretty, it becomes pretty insufferable after a while. It's really a shame, as Jennifer Jones and William Holden are nice actors--but the film really could have used a re-write. While some reviewers loved the romance, I couldn't get over the fact that Holden's character was already married--making him an adulterer. For me, adultery isn't romantic--it's just kind of sleazy. This, combined with the sappy dialog (some of which made no sense at all) and the theme song made this a chore--a very pretty chore, but a chore nevertheless. And don't even get me started on the casting of Jones as a half-Chinese lady (who mentions it every 35 seconds--as if trying VERY hard to convince us of something that is really hard to swallow). Not wonderful...but pretty.By the way, if you are wondering about the dialog that makes no sense at all, here's an example: When Holden is away covering the Korean War, Jones comments how 'it feels like he's more with me now than when he's really here with me' as she reads his letter to her. Huh?!