The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), the epic of a film, directed by Mark Robson, is loosely based on the novel, titled The Small Woman, written by Alan Burges, depicting the life of Gladys Aylward, a tenacious British woman, an ex-domestic help, who became a missionary in China, and also ran an inn for the travelling merchants in the country, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the subsequent tumultuous years leading up to the Second World War. The Chinese believe that there are eight happinesses, of which truth is the sixth happiness, and accordingly, her inn was named the Inn of the Sixth Happiness. The film, although proved to be the second most popular film at the British box office in 1959, was criticised for casting tall Ingrid Bergman with a Swedish accent in the lead role, which is inconsistent with the small stature, dark hair and Cockney accent of Gladys Aylward. Apart from that, the two male leads, Curt Jurgens, playing the role of Captain Lin Nan, a Chinese Army officer, and Robert Donat, appearing as the local mandarin, a bureaucrat scholar, were not even Chinese. However, most of the children in the film were ethnic Chinese children from Liverpool, which is the home to the oldest Chinese settlers in Europe. For the production of the film, the Chinese villages were built on the rented space in the outdoor area behind the MGM British Studios, while the location scenes were filmed in North Wales.

The film begins in London, where Gladys arrived and visited the China Mission House to meet Dr Robinson, the senior missionary, with a dream to be sent to China as a Christian missionary. Unfortunately, her prayer was rejected due to her lack of education, but Dr Robinson was kind enough to get her a job as a second housemaid in the house of Sir Francis Jamison, a veteran explorer who has spent several years in the country. However, Gladys was determined to fulfil her vision at any cost. So, apart from her regular salary, she also took up other menial jobs to earn a little extra over the next few months, saved her money to purchase a ticket to China on the Trans-Siberian railway, choosing the more dangerous overland route to the East, because it is less expensive. At the same time, she also borrowed books on China from Sir Francis’s library, to know more about the country. Impressed by her dedicated attitude, Sir Francis wrote a letter to the veteran missionary, Jeannie Lawson, his only surviving friend in China, who agreed to accept Gladys as a much-needed assistant at her mission in the remote county of Yangcheng, located in the southeast of Shanxi province in North China.

Finally, after a long and tiresome journey by train through Siberia for many days, Gladys arrived in Tientsin, where the people at the local mission house arranged a guide and a mule for her, which took her Yang Cheng, where she met Jeannie Lawson, a white-haired, spry old lady and the Chinese cook Yang. Lawson has acquired a dilapidated old inn, which she calls the Inn of the Sixth Happiness, and dreams to make it a proper inn for the passing travellers, offering food for them and their animals, communal beds without bugs, and free stories from the Bible, which she trusts some of them will finally believe. The film follows the two women, along with the cook Yang, getting down to work cleaning up the inn, setting it to rights, and waiting for the possible patrons, until tragedy strikes when Lawson falls while climbing a ladder and dies in Gladys’ arms. As Gladys has no money to run the establishment, Captain Lin, the commander of the garrison, advises her to go back to her country, but the situation was saved by Hsien Chang, the local Mandarin, who offers her to become his Foot Inspector, and visit the countryside to promote and enforce the government's law against the traditional foot-binding of the Chinese girls. Gladys accepts the offer, as with the money of her salary she will be able to run the inn.

However, it was a difficult task to convince people to reject the century-old tradition, and persuade the young mothers to unbind the feet of their baby daughters. But despite her little command over the local language, Gladys manages to appeal to the emotions of the people, and succeeds in her mission, with Yang as her interpreter. Gradually, she became fluent in the Chinese language, won the love and respect of the people and also of the Mandarin as she travelled regularly through the mountains for the complete success of her mission, earning the nickname Jen-ai, the one who loves people, and consequently became a Chinese citizen. Later, when Captain Lin, now a colonel, returned to prepare the region for the war against Japan, she courageously confronted an axe-wielding convict to stop a prison riot, which impressed the Colonel and he became attracted to her.

Eventually, when Japan invades China, and an air raid shatters the city, killing Yang, the Mandarin hastily called a meeting of the town council where it was unanimously decided that all of them should immediately leave the place for another remote area. During the meeting, the Mandarin also dramatically announced that he is converting to Christianity to honour Gladys Aylward, which brought tears to her eyes. But she knew that, left all alone in the virtually deserted city, she has to struggle hard to feed the 50 children at the Inn, and face a bitter winter, not knowing where to go with the helpless kids. Subsequently, another 50 children arrived from another mission with a letter from the missionary, informing her that trucks have been arranged to evacuate all of them to a new home in the interior of the country. However, to avail of the opportunity, they should arrive at the mission in the city of Xi'an by 12 November, in three weeks time, failing to which, the trucks will leave without them.

Although the road trip should take only a week, Lin vehemently objected to the idea, as the road is under the control of the Japanese and they should rather opt for the idea to cross over the mountains to safely reach the destination. Lin gives her a map of the mountain route and also gave her a jade ring as a token of expressing his feelings for her, and said that he strongly believes that she will come back if she can. However, as they were preparing to leave the place, another fifty orphan kids arrived from a neighbouring town, which makes Gladys and Li to lead a team of one hundred children to safety, trekking across the mountains. Nevertheless, after a long and tough journey, which included the crossing of a perilous river, the team reached the destination on the day the trucks are to leave, except for Li who gave his life to save the children from a Japanese patrol. The film culminates with the column of children, led by Gladys Aylward, marching through the cheering crowds and up to the steps of the mission, singing a song, which Aylward taught them. When she was greeted by Dr Robinson, she introduced herself as woman whom he rejected to become a missionary, which made him surprised. However, he regretted his earlier decision and offered her a position with their children’s mission, but this time, she turned down the offer to return to her home, her love, Colonel Lin.

Even though harshly criticised for its casting, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, created in the old Hollywood style with a bit of romance, was the second most popular film at the British box office in 1959, and earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Direction, along with nominations for three Golden Globe and three BAFTA Awards, which include Best Foreign Actress nomination for Ingrid Bergman, playing the role of Gladys Aylward.