How it should have ended...

I'm not opposed to sad endings as long as I feel they make the message more powerful. But I think the story would've been enhanced and the messages still strong if it'd ended more happily. Here's how I would've ended it:

Dr. Fane gets deathly ill from cholera and as his wife sits by his side, she feels remorse for how she treated him and extremely frightened she's going to lose him. But when she awakens the next day, she sees the disease has broken and Dr. Fane is sleeping peacefully.
When he's well enough to speak, he smiles at her and says in a weak voice, "Thank you for staying by my side."
"That's where I belong," she replies, holding his hand. "Always." (Thus, the wish he expressed earlier that she would be there to comfort him comes true.)
Cut to a few weeks later and Dr. Fane is slowly getting better and eventually he & Kitty fix their house up and make it a home as her belly grows. They are getting to know and love one another.
Kitty has the baby, and about a year later, Dr. Fane says to the Chinese doctor and captain, "I think my work here is done. I believe you can handle the situation from here." Thus, he's giving the power to help themselves back to the nationalists.
The townspeople give Dr. Fane & his wife a nice send-off, showing their appreciation for saving their village. Kitty realizes how much she's grown to love it there. Dr. Fane & Kitty return to England and move into a nice, comfortable cottage far away from her family. He takes her out to dances and parties, and in turn, she goes with him to art museums.
One day, they are out shopping, Dr. Fane going one way and Kitty and their 4-year-old going the other. Kitty runs into Charles Townshend. Unbeknownst to her, Dr. Fane is watching this interaction and listening to it from afar. They exchange pleasantries, then Charles says, "Maybe sometime would you like to come have dinner at our house?"
Kitty replies, "We're actually leaving to go back to China in a few weeks. I'm afraid we wouldn't have time." She pauses then says, "Goodbye." "Goodbye," he replies, sensing that her interest in him is truly over.
Kitty turns around to find Dr. Fane standing behind her. She is nervous about how he might react to this interaction. But he smiles down at her and says, "Who was that?" "No one important," she replies, smiling. They walk off together, holding hands and laughing with their son.

An ending like that may not have been as haunting, but it would've made this into a movie I'd watch all the time vs. once every few years b/c I can't handle the sadness!! I know they couldn't do it this way b/c they adapted it from a book. This is just wishful thinking.

P.S. I love this movie and think it's highly underrated. The cinematography, score, script and acting are superb.

"Every human life is worth the same and worth saving."-Kingsley Shacklebolt