Japanese War Bride
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
King Vidor
Shirley Yamaguchi
Don Taylor
Cameron Mitchell
Marie Windsor
James Bell
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Critically wounded while fighting in the Korean War, young American Army lieutenant Jim Sterling is transported to a Japanese hospital, where he is nursed back to health by a Japanese nurse named Tae Shimizu. Tae and Jim fall in love, and Jim later visits her grandfather Eitaro and asks him to bless their marriage. Eitaro objects to the marriage because he feels that there are too many differences between the Anglos and the Japanese. Hoping to scare Jim off, Eitaro plays a trick on him, but Jim and Tae see through the ploy and insist on going through with the marriage. With his new bride at his side, Jim returns to his home in Salinas, California, and introduces her to his parents, his brothers, Art and Ted, and Art's wife Fran. Fran, who still carries a torch for Jim, becomes jealous of Tae. A short time later, Tae meets the Hasagawas, a second generation Japanese American family who own the land next to the Sterlings'. While trying hard to gain acceptance by the Sterlings, Tae falls victim to Fran's plots to discredit her. One day, Tae overhears Mrs. Sterling's friend, Milly Shafer, tell Mrs. Sterling that she is uneasy about Tae's presence because her son was killed in the war. Although Milly's remarks upset her, Tae decides to remain silent about the affair. The following day, while Tae and Ted are out picking mushrooms, Tae has a talk with Shiro Hasagawa, who tells her that his family was sent to an internment camp during World War II, and that the memory of the camp has embittered his father and made him resent all Anglo Americans. Later, Fran, still trying to make trouble for Tae, spreads word that she was seen alone with Shiro. Tae finds herself at the center of attention once again when, at a party, Jim's drunken friend, Woody Blacker, insults her by calling her a "geisha." Jim punches Woody, and a fistfight ensues. Time passes, and Tae, now pregnant, looks forward to starting a family in the house they plan to build on Sterling land. Soon after Tae gives birth to a baby boy, her troubles return when an anonymous and malicious letter is circulated through town claiming that the father of the child is Shiro. The accusations upset Jim, who makes plans to leave Salinas after telling Tae about the letter. Tae, however, is so devastated by the false accusations that she takes the baby and leaves without Jim. While Tae takes refuge at the Hasagawas, who later send her to live with relatives in Monterey, Jim concludes that Fran wrote the slanderous letter. Jim wrings a confession from Fran, after which Art strikes her. Jim then convinces Shiro that he is genuinely in love with Tae and that he wants to repair his marriage. As soon as Shiro tells him where he can find his wife, Jim sets out for Monterey. Tae tries to run away from Jim when she first sees him, and then contemplates jumping into the ocean from a nearby cliff. Jim prevents her from doing so, however, when he tells her that he truly loves her and is ready to start a new life in their new house.
Director
King Vidor
Cast
Shirley Yamaguchi
Don Taylor
Cameron Mitchell
Marie Windsor
James Bell
Louise Lorimer
Philip Ahn
Sybil Merritt
Lane Nakano
Kathleen Mulqueen
Orley Lindgren
George Wallace
May Takasugi
William Yokota
Susie Matsumoto
Weaver Levy
Jerry Fujikawa
Chieko Sato
Tetsu Komai
Hisa Chiba
David March
Crew
Vic Appel
Izzy Berne
Joseph Bernhard
Anson Bond
Anson Bond
Ed Borschell
Paul Guilfoyle
Danny Hall
Gene Hibbs
Percy Ikerd
Paul Ivano
Monte Kennedy
Arthur Lange
Lionel Lindon
Maxine Marlowe
Wilbur Mcgaugh
Terry Morse
Emil Newman
Adele Parmenter
Catherine Turney
Murray Waite
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was East Is East. As noted in May 1951 Hollywood Reporter news item, popular Japanese actress Shirley Yamaguchi, who made her American film debut in Japanese War Bride, initially encountered difficulties obtaining permission to enter the country to work on the film. In late May the State Department issued her a thirteen-week work permit. Hollywood Reporter production charts list the actress as Yoshiko Yamaguchi, and note that portions of the picture were filmed in Salinas, CA. According to a June 1952 Hollywood Reporter news item, a $75,000 plagiarism suit was filed against Twentieth Century-Fox, Bernhard Productions, and writers Anson Bond and Catherine Turney in May 1952 by Harold Nebenzal, who alleged that the story of the film was "lifted" from a treatment that he had submitted to Bernhard, through Bond, in 1949. The outcome of the suit is not known.
