Der Barbar und die Geisha

When you consider that this movie was made only 13 years after the end of the war in the Pacific, with its brutality and carnage, it is quite surprising to see that the "The Barbarian and the Geisha" tries to to present the clash of cultures, 100 years earlier, with such apparent equity and fairness.

While some may see John Wayne as the archetypical posterboy for American jingoism, in fact his character clearly tries to understand the country in which he is trying to establish the consulate, and shows genuine remorse, not arrogance, in noting that in early part of his assignment, all that the Americans had established was a cholera epidemic and the torching of the city to quell it.

While the interracial love story behind the title was somewhat superficial, I thought that the more important aspects of colliding cultures and political shadowboxing was quite interesting and well presented.

The picture develops the true tale of Townsend Harris (John Wayne) who during the nineteenth century is sent -along with his helper (Sam Jaffe)- by President Pierce to Japan to serve as the first American Consul-General to that nation . Towsend gets enormous hostility to foreigners , as well as dangers and risks . There finds romance with a gorgeous geisha (Eiko Ando) . Meanwhile he confronts the governor , Baron Tamura (Shomamura ), but finally he contacts in Edo with the Shogun . Then the geisha beauty is sent to destroy the barbarian from the west .

This costumer picture is based on historic events . Japan was dominated for a dynasty occupied by the Togugawa family from century XVI until 1868 and characterized by ruling ¨ Daimios ¨ , confronting occidental people and shunning the opening imposed by Admiral Perry in 1863 ; he was the first foreigner in Japan who undergoes a culture shock . Being dead emperor Komei , succeeded in 1867 , Mutsu Hito , one time crowned as emperor Meiji , he abolished the Shogun , ( happenings developed in various films as ¨ Shogun ¨ with Richard Chamberlain and ¨The last Samurai¨ with Tom Cruise ). Matsu Hito carried out various changes, as a liberal cabinet , creating a Duma or Parliament and following actual models and modern spirit . Anti-reforms riots to return old values , traditional way of life and code Bushido were realized by the Samurais a type of medieval knight for preventing of occidental life style .

John Wayne becomes the first Ambassador from the Western world is this oriental adventure . The film deals with conflicts between the radical conservatism and modernism ; upon relation of the West and East World . Besides , a sweeping, complex human drama with all the ingredients : betrayal , romance , inter-racial love story, , emotions and is pretty interesting . Stunning images illuminate the full-blown feats of Towsend Harris under impressive sets created by Lyle Wheeler and Walter Scott . Glimmer and colorfully filmed by cameraman Charles G Clarke shot in locations as 20th Century Fox Studios, Los Angeles, California,(studio) ,Eiga Film Studios,Tokyo, and Kawana ,and Kyoto , Japan .Evocative and appropriate score by Hugo Friedhofer . Panned by the critics , the movie was a flop at box office , receiving awful reviews , considering Wayne is horribly miscast and ¨Barbarian and Geisha¨ resulted to be one of the worst of his bad films . However , nowadays is best deemed . Motion picture produced and released by Twenty Century Fox- Darryl F Zanuck- is regularly directed by John Huston . The movie hasn't the thematic unity of 'African's Queen', ' Asphalt jungle' , ' Key Largo' , ' Maltese Falcon' or ' The treasure of Sierra Madre' the John Huston's best and shares his failures to 'Phobia' , ' the Bible' or 'Kremlin letter' . Rating : 5,5 , acceptable and passable .

In THE BARBARIAN AND THE GEISHA, John Wayne plays Townsend Harris, a real envoy from the United States who was responsible for truly opening up Japan to International relations in the late 1850s. Before him, Commodore Perry basically pushed into Japan with gunboats and forced a treaty upon the Japanese in 1853. Harris, who arrived just a bit later, worked through the details and helped ensure compliance--as many of the Japanese felt no particular inclination to honor the first treaty. All this is true and shown in the film. According to some other sources I found, the romance between Harris and a Japanese Geisha is mostly fiction and this romance is much of the focus of this film (hence, the title).

My first reaction the first time I saw this movie was one of surprise. John Wayne as a diplomat?! When he's being diplomatic in most films, he says please and thank you as he pummels people!!!! So seeing him playing a man who is NOT a man of action and is able to play the diplomatic game seemed very odd indeed. In fact, I can't think of too many actors in 1958 who would have been more unusual for this role. By the way, I've seen photos of Harris and Wayne has practically no resemblance to him at all.

However, despite the story taking a lot of liberties with the truth and the strange casting, the film is still very watchable. The color cinematography is nice, the film shows some nice insights into Japanese customs and culture and the acting isn't bad. All in all, a likable and watchable film despite it's odd casting.

PS--Read through the trivia for this film. You find out a bit more about the real life characters as well as a supposed fight between Wayne and the director (John Huston) where Wayne apparently knocked him out!! Based on what I've read about Huston and the way he got along with actors, this is an incident I tend to believe. And, it's also a nice example of John Wayne "diplomacy".

If you were to make a real film about Townsend Harris, the first American diplomat in Japan, the guy you would have cast in the role was Clifton Webb. The real Harris was an aesthete like Webb's persona on screen, never married, might have been gay as Webb was. Now that would have been an interesting film.

But done the way John Huston did it, with Harris as a romantic figure, Tyrone Power would have been perfect casting. I have a gut feeling that since 20th Century Fox produced this, the property might have been at one time meant for Power. Wayne looked so awkward and ridiculous mouthing those romantic lines that Ty Power could have done in his sleep.

John Huston said that in casting John Wayne he was trying to show a clash of cultures, Tokugawa Japan being opened to the west by the young vibrant, expanding America and Huston saw Wayne as the personification of 19th century America. Well it didn't work. Supposedly both men developed a hearty dislike of the other.

I will say this though, it's a spectacularly photographed film and it does show quite accurately the Japan that Townsend Harris was dealing with.

But it was still one of the big duds for the Duke's career.

Not an action packed John Wayne adventure but enjoyable for it's own merits. Those merits include an interesting look at Japan circa 1856 and how the arrival of non-Japanese were looked on with fear and loathing.

There are some odd directorial dead spots such as when Wayne as Townsend Harris is told he cannot fly the American flag. The Duke agrees to take it down but gives a speech stating that he will fly the flag at certain times. The scene trails off somewhat anti-climactically despite seemingly leading up to a dramatic confrontation.

On the whole I found the film entertaining and worth viewing.