Putting Faith on Film : Movies: Paul F. Crouch’s ‘China Cry,’ the first Christian mainstream film in more than a decade, will open nationwide Nov. 2.

Proclaiming that he is “not willing to surrender the motion-picture media to the devil,” Trinity Broadcasting Network President Paul F. Crouch is breaking into the movie business with a $6-million feature film, aimed at mainstream theater audiences and financed entirely by donations.

“China Cry” is based on the life of Chinese-American evangelist Nora Lam and carries the subtitle, “A True Story.” Recently completed, a rough cut of the film is being screened for ministers and motion-picture industry executives and the final version is scheduled to open Nov. 2 in 25 cities.

Packed with recognizable Asian-American and Eurasian actors and shot mostly in Hong Kong and Macao, “China Cry” tells the story of Lam’s life in China before and after the 1949 Communist revolution. A critical episode, both in the book and film, comes when Lam refuses to denounce Christ and is led before a nighttime firing squad. As the courtyard is suddenly bathed in an otherworldly light, she feels the bullets passing near her, but is miraculously spared.

As befits Crouch, the Orange County founder and president of the 200-station Trinity Broadcasting Network, is marketing the film in a big way--complete with razzle-dazzle television promotions, slick posters and brochures, a book tie-in and an innovative plan to “pre-sell” millions of tickets. It will premiere Nov. 1 at Mann’s Chinese in Hollywood.

“China Cry” is presented by TBN Films--a new, nonprofit California corporation--with Crouch listed as executive producer and his son Matt as associate producer. Shot in color and featuring Dolby Sound, the film is a completely union production. It was written and directed by James F. Collier, who has done several “inspirational” films, and was shot by David Worth, Clint Eastwood’s cinematographer on “Bronco Billy.”

The cast includes Julia Nickson-Soul, wife of actor David Soul, who was featured in “Rambo II,” Russell Wong (“Eat a Bowl of Tea”), France Nuyen (“The World of Suzie Wong”) and James Shigeta (“Flower Drum Song”).

Not since 1988, when Billy Graham’s Worldwide Pictures was closed, has there been such a direct effort by a religious organization to produce a mainstream feature with Christian content. The Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church produced the $45-million Korean War bomb “Inchon” in 1982, but that film made no attempt to proselytize.

Film critic Michael Medved, co-host of PBS’ “Sneak Previews,” attended a recent screening and called “China Cry” “a very professional piece of work.” He said that “the look of the picture is quite authentic,” especially the Shanghai section, adding that the Christian aspects of the film are “relatively subtle. . . . There are very few moments where it is embarrassing, or the budget shows.”

In Trinity’s August, 1990, newsletter, Paul Crouch wrote: “I am not willing to surrender the motion-picture media to the devil. . . . If Hollywood had produced (“China Cry”) you can be sure they would have cut any witness for Christ out of it. So we had to do it ourselves. And, partners, we have done it! Praise the Lord!”

With “China Cry,” Crouch said, “a whole new door is opening up to this Army of the Lord: theater doors. And into this dark corner of our world we are going to shine the light of the Gospel! . . . the Church let the Evil One have the great motion-picture media.”

This is not Crouch’s first involvement with motion pictures. From 1961-65, he headed the Assemblies of God’s department of television and film production in Burbank. In August, 1988, he used Trinity to help mobilize--on extremely short notice--a rally at Universal Studios in Burbank to protest release of the “Last Temptation of Christ” that drew 25,000 people. Crouch called on Lew Wasserman, Universal’s chairman, to allow the outraged fundamentalists to buy the film and, in Crouch’s words, “burn it at the stake.”

Crouch recently acknowledged that it was “The Last Temptation” that propelled him into film production.

“That’s one of the things that impelled me to get involved, instead of cursing the darkness,” Crouch said. “I saw a real need in the area of the motion-picture field. . . . We are not only hoping to reach the present film-going public, but we’re also hoping to appeal to that large segment of the population that has stopped going to the movies. . . .

“I think the type of movies that are being produced that young people are seeing, all the crime and violence, has an adverse affect,” Crouch said. “The reason I made the donation is that I believe I’m making an investment in the future of our young people. . . . It’s important for the younger generation . . . to understand that miracles do happen in modern times.”

For more than a year, Crouch has been using his nonprofit, tax-exempt network to build support for “China Cry,” talking about it regularly on his prime-time talk show, “Praise,” and reporting on its progress, both in documentary reports from the set in Hong Kong by Matt Crouch, and in the broadcast ministry’s newsletter. In recent weeks, clips from the film have appeared frequently during Trinity’s 24-hours-a-day Christian programming, seen locally on the network’s flagship, KTBN Channel 40.

Perhaps the most innovative aspect of Trinity’s involvement in the film business has been in financial backing and distribution plans for “China Cry.” Crouch simply asked viewers to give money to make the film, rather than invest. Any money brought in by “China Cry,” Crouch said, would be put into a fund to make more movies.

Crouch has asked supporters, on the air and in the network’s monthly newsletter, to fill in reservation coupons--a “faith promise”--committing them to buy blocks of tickets to the movie when it plays in their area. The aim, he wrote, is “to secure the partnership of a major distributor so that the film will be seen by the world and not just by Christians.” Under the Advance Purchase Discount Tickets plan, in exchange for reserving blocks of 25 to 1,000 tickets, individuals receive a 20% discount.

According to Tim Penland, the distributor, more than 75,000 of these reservations have been received in the Los Angeles-Orange County area alone. More than 40 Southern California theaters have agreed to book the film in November, Penland said. As part of the marketing plan, the other 24 cities chosen for “China Cry’s” platform opening--including Denver, Miami and Dallas--were selected to coincide with the location of Trinity’s owned-and-operated television stations.

Ticket reservations received to date total more than $5 million, according to Penland.

It is difficult to separate Paul Crouch and Trinity Broadcasting Network from Nora Lam, her own ministry and “China Cry.” Since 1982, the San Jose-based Lam has been listed as one of Trinity’s “Foreign Missions” in the network’s literature, and Lam appears regularly on Crouch’s prime-time talk show, “Praise,” and makes appeals on Trinity’s twice-yearly “Praise-athon” fund-raisers. Trinity produces Lam’s Chinese-language religious programming, which is broadcast in Taiwan. Lam has been boosting both the film and the book in her own quarterly newsletter, “China Today.”

In the world of Christian broadcasting, Lam is not without her critics--none of whom will speak on the record. They have criticized her early relationship with the evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman, her fund-raising techniques, her tours to China. Some have charged she embellished details of her life story in “China Cry.” Several years ago, Lam’s organization was refused membership in the Wheaton, Ill.-based National Assn. of Evangelicals, although officials of the 50,000-member organization would not reveal the grounds.

Crouch has had his own share of scrapes with controversy. He and his wife, Jan, began their broadcast ministry 17 years ago in partnership with Jim and Tammy Bakker, an arrangement that ended acrimoniously with the Crouches in control of the Orange County station and the Bakkers heading to North Carolina. In a recent book by Austin Miles, “Don’t Call Me Brother,” Bakker is quoted as claiming that the station “was literally stolen out from under us. . . . Nobody will ever take a television ministry away from us again.”

In 1989, Crouch and Trinity left the National Religious Broadcasters following a yearlong investigation by the voluntary organization’s ethics committee, which looked into complaints by former employees, partners, colleagues and suppliers. Crouch and Trinity have been involved in civil suits and charges before various governmental boards in at least six states.

Crouch reported an annual salary of $125,000 in 1988 and drives a $70,000 BMW supplied by the network. Crouch’s wife, son and various in-laws are on Trinity’s payroll, and another son recently received a large loan from the network to buy several television stations.