Le Pont vers le Soleil

If I hadn't been laid up at home today, I suspect I never would have watched this movie when it popped up on TCM today, especially after seeing the highly unlikely beginning: tourist from Tennessee and sophisticated Japanese diplomat meet and fall in love at a reception at Japanese Embassy in DC.

I'm so glad I stayed with it, a very good examination of cross cultural marriages and, as others have mentioned, a look at daily life in Japan in WW II.

As a retired diplomat, who lived outside USA for most of my adult life, now back in USA, I'm so grateful to TCM for a review of film history and especially American cultural history.

It is on Turner Classic Movies June 19, 2008. It is not available on VHS or DVD.

This movie had a profound effect on my wife, who saw it right after its release in 1961 with her sister. They were 11 and 8 at the time. The woman in the movie is from from East Tennessee and we are from West Tennessee. I do not understand why it was never copied and sold. It is a great movie. The historical context is meaningful for anyone interested in Pearl Harbor, World War 2, MacArthur, or the Japanese interment during WW2. It is a classic love story, on the order of Romeo and Juliet, but with world wide implications. This will be the first time my wife has seen it in 45 years !!!

Carroll Baker and James Shigeta star as "Terry" and Gwen Terasaki in this true story (based on Gwen's memoir) of an inter-racial marriage between a Japanese diplomat and a young American woman during the period from the mid-1930's to the post-World War II era. It was a very interesting movie that deals with the concepts of foreign races and cultures from two perspectives - which is somewhat unique. I would think that in 1961, when this film was made, it may have been a bit controversial. Inter-racial marriage was still a very controversial subject in America, and the story of an American woman who chose to go to Japan with her husband at the outbreak of the war probably would have been somewhat shocking to audiences who could easily still remember Pearl Harbor and the war with Japan.

The movie can basically be divided into two halves. The first deals with Gwen and Terry's life in America. Meeting at a reception at the Japanese Embassy, they quickly fall in love. Gwen is from Tennessee; her family is none to happy at the prospect of her marrying a Japanese man, although to be honest the reaction seems to be a subdued one. More is made of the difficulty of Gwen being accepted by the Japanese - including her being summoned to the Embassy to meet the Ambassador, who asks her not to marry Terry. But they do marry, and Terry returns with her to Japan afterward. The culture chock for Gwen is more profound, as she suddenly has to deal with the subordinate place of women in the society, and with Terry's change in behaviour - as he seems desperate to fit back into Japanese society. After being re-posted to the Embassy in Washington, Terry is sent back to Japan with the outbreak of the war, and Gwen (and their new daughter Mariko) go with him, with both having to face suspicion and downright anti-Americanism as the war continues and as Japan is increasingly subjected to American bombing.

This struck me as a courageous film. Even to this day there aren't a lot of films that really try to give a Japanese perspective on the war and on the Japanese attitude to America and Americans during the war. In fact, the most interesting thing about this movie is that it's set in Japan during World War II and presents what comes across as an accurate portrayal of what life must have been like in that environment, especially for an American woman who would have been looked on with suspicion for that very reason. In fact, one mechanism that director Etienne Perier used well were the sideways glances of the Japanese people at Gwen - a mixture of curiosity and contempt. They were usually in the background and not that noticeable, but if you did notice them they made a powerful point. This was a good performance from Baker. She had been known mostly for glamorous, sexy roles to this point (and would continue mostly in that vein afterward) but she did a good job in this dramatic role. Shigeta (known mostly for guest starring roles on TV) was also very effective in his role. It was a very early role for him, and it represented a very serious role at a time when serious roles (without stereotypes) for Asian actors were relatively scarce. I thought Baker and Shigeta worked well together and were very convincing in portraying the Terasaki's love story.

It's a well made movie, combining politics, racism, war and a love story all in one. (8/10)

Just before the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, an American girl from the South marries to a Japanese diplomat and moves with him to Tokyo.

Mainly melodramatic treatment of a fact-based autobiographical novel, notable for its heartfelt leading performances, strikingly accurate detail of Japanese life, some convincingly documentary-style shots, and its brave change of perspective by showing the Japanese point of view against the American.

Actress Carroll Baker never really carved out a niche for herself in Hollywood; a devout Method player, the roles she chose didn't always showcase a woman with any particular range. She's quite good here however, playing real-life American Gwen Terasaki who, while visiting Washington, D.C. from Tennessee, met and fell in love with a Japanese politician. Before you can say 'Sayonara!', Gwen is married and living in Japan, where the customs are confusing and the second World War looms ahead. Opens with a sweet, believable romance, becomes compelling drama of emotional choices. James Shigeta is terrific as Gwen's husband and the production is handsome. *** from ****