1856 - TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON, very popular 1950's comedy

This comedy about the US Army's occupation of Okinawa after World War II was very popular.  The play which the film was based on won the Tony, Pulitzer, and New York Drama Critics awards.  The play's main theme is basically a sort of "burying of the hatchet" between the Japanese and American nations.Viewed now, the play which the film  followed very closely is just hopelessly dated and in many ways very racist in it's depiction of the Asian people and culture.

Marlon Brando the premier actor of Hollywood and Broadway got it into his head that he wanted to play the character Sakini the interpreter to American officer Glenn Ford.  Ford is supposed to help rebuild a town in Okinawa by constructing a school and starting some local businesses.  The sneaky Sakini persuades Ford to build a tea house instead and start supplying home made liquor to the American Army, a direct violation of his commander's orders.  

 

Teahouse of the August Moon is about the humorous clash of cultures between east and west.  However the citizens of Okinawa come off as brain dead children with their foolish shenanigans.  Almost every interaction between the Americans ends with some excitable behavior which becomes more offensive throughout the film. Clearly the scenes with the Okinawan people are supposed to come off as funny but they are just stupid.  And exactly what Brando, usually an intelligent actor thought he was up to with his pigeon English and silly gestures in his performance is a complete mystery he's an embarrassment.

 The film also has another performer Machiko Kyō as the geisha girl who is living with Ford.  Kyō was an important performer in Japan, she had appeared in Rashomon, Gate of Hell, Ugetsu and Floating Weeds.  Here she plays a subservient geisha named what else "Lotus Blossom."  There is the slight hint of a romance between her and Ford but being that this is the 1950's none of that interracial stuff was going to be allowed. Machiko Kyō must have been an intelligent performer, she smart enough to never appear in another American film again.

 

Well needless to say the film got great reviews and was a big hit with the general public which just goes to prove nothing as far as I'm concerned.  The film now comes off as a piece of 1950's bad taste.

The screenplay which slavishly followed the play was by John Patrick, the running time is 123 minutes.