Japanese War Bride

Japanese War Bride
Japanese War Bride
	Promotional release poster
Directed by	King Vidor
Written by	Anson Bond (story); Catherine Turney (screenplay)
Produced by	Joseph Bernhard; Anson Bond
Starring	Shirley Yamaguchi; Don Taylor
Cinematography	Lionel Lindon
Edited by	Terry O. Morse
Music by	Arthur Lange; Emil Newman
Distributed by	Twentieth Century-Fox
Release dates	December 31, 1951 (Detroit); January 29, 1952 (New York);
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Japanese War Bride (also known as East Is East) is a 1952 American drama film directed by King Vidor. The film features the American debut of Shirley Yamaguchi in the title role.

Plot

Wounded Korean War veteran Jim Sterling returns to his California home with his Japanese wife Tae Shimizu. The couple had met and fallen in love in a Japanese hospital where Tae was working as a nurse. In the United States, the couple face racism and bigotry from their neighbors and family, particularly from Jim's sister-in-law Fran.

Cast

Shirley Yamaguchi as Tae Shimizu
Don Taylor as Jim Sterling
Cameron Mitchell as Art Sterling
Marie Windsor as Fran Sterling
James Bell as Ed Sterling
Louise Lorimer as Harriet Sterling
Philip Ahn as Eitaro Shimizu
Lane Nakano as Shiro Hasagawa
May Takasugi as Emma Hasagawa
Sybil Merritt as Emily Shafer
Orley Lindgren as Ted Sterling
George Wallace as Woody Blacker
Kathleen Mulqueen as Milly Shafer

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic A. H. Weiler wrote: "King Vidor has directed the drama inherent in the stress attendant on the homecoming of one such young couple without imagination despite a story that does make a perfectly valid plea for understanding. ... Credit the producers with indicating that hostility is not a hard and fast rule. But a suspicion of soap opera does creep in as a jealous sister-in-law tries, via a poison pen letter to indicate that that child of the marriage was sired by a Japanese neighbor. And, the final denouement and reconciliation is hardly above the standard of its approach."^[2]

Legacy

The widespread publicity surrounding the film's launch may have increased the visibility of Japanese wives in the United States. Some scholars have commented that the film, along with The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956) and Sayonara (1957), improved racial tolerance by openly discussing interracial marriages.^[3]

In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor's career.^[4]

References

^ "Show Time". Detroit Free Press. December 31, 1951. p. 9.
^ ^a ^b Weiler, A. H. (January 30, 1952). "The Screen in Review: Story of a 'Japanese War Bride'". The New York Times. p. 22.
^ Kovner, Sarah (2012). Occupying Power: Sex Workers and Servicemen in Postwar Japan. Stanford University Press. pp. 65–66. ISBN 978-0-8047-8346-0.
^ "Berlinale 2020: Retrospective "King Vidor"". Berlinale. Retrieved February 28, 2020.

External links

[1] "Show Time". Detroit Free Press. December 31, 1951. p. 9.

[weiler-2] Weiler, A. H. (January 30, 1952). "The Screen in Review: Story of a 'Japanese War Bride'". The New York Times. p. 22.

[Kovner2012-3] Kovner, Sarah (2012). Occupying Power: Sex Workers and Servicemen in Postwar Japan. Stanford University Press. pp. 65–66. ISBN 978-0-8047-8346-0.

[4] "Berlinale 2020: Retrospective "King Vidor"". Berlinale. Retrieved February 28, 2020.

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