FROM THE VAULT: 1958
The Barbarian and the Geisha
Starring: John Wayne, Eiko Ando, Sam Jaffe
Director: John Huston
The film: The 1950s saw several Hollywood productions shot on location in Japan, most notably Sam Fuller's House of Bamboo (1955), Joshua Logan's Sayonara (1957) starring Marlon Brando, and John Huston's The Barbarian and the Geisha.
The latter features a top-hatted John Wayne as Townsend Harris, America's first consul to Japan, who spent more than a year waiting in the port town of Shimoda while various resentful politicos tried to prevent his meeting with the emperor. During this period he spent much of his time enjoying the company of a 17-year-old girl (Harris was in his early 50s) and it's that relationship that takes up most of the screen time in this largely fictional film (albeit with an older female subject).
The diplomatic character was a major change of direction for Wayne, who had been more used to blowing away large portions of the Japanese military in films such as The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) and Back to Bataan (1945), and he's clearly uncomfortable with the role. Co-star Sam Jaffe (Lost Horizon, The Asphalt Jungle) is more at ease as his secretary and translator, and does well speaking the language, but the Japanese actors put in the best performances.