Director George Stevens"" and Columbia Pictures"" terrific war-time romantic comedy featured excellent performances and an effervescent flair, although it reflected a dark time period during he war years when Americans on the homefront faced many hardships.]The Three Main Characters - Doris, Susan, and Fred:While the parade was still in progress, Doris returned to her apartment where she was told that her young 2nd grade daughter Susan Walker (8-9 year-old Natalie Wood) was watching he parade from the front apartment window of their handsome neighbor, lawyer-attorney Fred Gailey (John Payne).Five android business-men stood outside his door, forcing him to flee through the bathroom window and break into the nearby factory to locate her.Haggerty (Louise Closser Hale), a boardinghouse-keeper in ShanghaiHenry Chang (Warner Oland), a mysterious Eurasian merchant, actually a cruel war lord and Commander-in-Chief of revolutionary, rebel troops of soldiersSam Salt (Eugene Pallette), an American gamblerEric Baum (Gustav von Seyffertitz), a German invalid masquerading as a coal banker - who was actually an opium dealerMajor Lenard (Emile Chautard), a uniformed French officer, although disgraced and removed from military serviceOne of the lady passengers on the train was notorious adventuress Shanghai Lily.