Dragon Seed (film)

Dragon Seed is a 1944 war drama film starring Katharine Hepburn. Based on a best-selling book by Pearl S. Buck, the film portrays a peaceful village in China that has been invaded by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese war. The men in the village choose to adopt a peaceful attitude toward their conquerors; but the headstrong Jade (Hepburn) stands up to the Japanese.
Aline MacMahon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Plot.
A peaceful Chinese village is invaded by the Japanese prior to World War II. The men elect to adopt a peaceful attitude towards their conquerors, and the women are understood to stoically acquiesce, as well, but Jade (Katharine Hepburn), a headstrong young woman, intends to stand up to the Japanese whether her husband Lao Er (Turhan Bey) approves or not. She even goes so far as to learn to read and to handle a weapon, so that she may be properly equipped for both psychological and physical combat. Jade's attitude spreads to the rest of the village, convincing even the staunchest of male traditionalists that the Japanese can be defeated only by offering a strong united front, male and female.
Box office.
According to MGM records, the film earned $3,033,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $1,594,000 elsewhere, but because of its high cost, incurred a loss to the studio of $281,000.