Java Head is the name of the house owned by a wealthy Bristol shipping magnate named Jeremy Ammidon (Edmund Gwenn, perfectly cast who most would later remember as Santa in "Miracle on 34th St."), a man who is having heart issues and sees his two sons are gunning for new implementations in their company like switching to steam ships. John Loder is Gerritt Ammidon, who lives for seafaring adventures and traveling to exotic locales like China. When he returns to Bristol after a year and a half voyage, he arrives married to a Manchu Princess named Taou Yuen (Anna May Wong) much to the consternation of his family and everyone in town, including churchgoers. Gerritt is also aware that he may be in love with another woman, the lily-white Nettie (Elizabeth Allan) who has a far too domineering religious father. Will Gerritt choose Nettie despite having married Tauo (her name translates as Peach Garden)?
"Java Head" is a melodramatic and tragic love story yet it has a couple of relationships that are awkwardly handled. Loder shows he is in love with Taou, far more than Nettie, yet he does an about-face that is so abruptly written that it never convinces. Same with the tragic ending that doesn't seem to affect anyone at all, excluding George Cuzon's Englishman Dunsack who feels more Chinese than English, and leaves the viewer cold. Despite the unusual kind of relationship depicted and the racist overtones as evidenced by people's observations of the Chinese princess, "Java Head" gets crushed by a problematic ending that says more about the times than anything fitting into a solid narrative. Still, the film is a treat to see for its cast (early performance by Ralph Richardson as Gerritt's brother) and for Anna's flamboyant dresses and her heavenly presence that shatters almost everyone else on screen.
