The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958)

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Charles Grayson (writer)
Ellis St. Joseph (story)
(more)

Release Date:

30 September 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | History | Romance

Tagline:

The geisha girl they sent to love and to destroy the barbarian from the west!

Plot:

Townsend Harris is sent by President Pierce to Japan to serve as the first U.S. Consul-General to that country...

Plot Keywords:

Japan | Japanese Woman | Intrigue | Japanese | Samurai

Cast

John Wayne	...	Townsend Harris
Eiko Ando	...	Okichi
Sam Jaffe	...	Henry Heusken
Sô Yamamura	...	Governor Tamura
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kodaya Ichikawa	...	Daimyo (uncredited)
Tokujiro Iketaniuchi	...	Harusha (uncredited)
Fuji Kasai	...	Lord Hotta (uncredited)
Takeshi Kumagai	...	Chamberlain (uncredited)
Fuyukichi Maki	...	Peasant (uncredited)
Morita	...	Prime Minister (uncredited)
James Robbins	...	Lt. Fisher (uncredited)
Norman Thomson	...	Captain Edmunds (uncredited)
Hiroshi Yamato	...	The Shogun (uncredited)

Directed by
John Huston

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Nigel Balchin		uncredited
James Edward Grant		uncredited
Charles Grayson		writer
Alfred Hayes		uncredited
Ellis St. Joseph		story

Produced by
Eugene Frenke	....	producer
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Hugo Friedhofer

Cinematography by
Charles G. Clarke

Film Editing by
Stuart Gilmore

Art Direction by
Jack Martin Smith
Lyle R. Wheeler

Set Decoration by
Don Greenwood Jr.
Walter M. Scott

Costume Design by
Charles Le Maire

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup supervisor
Web Overlander	....	makeup artist
Helen Turpin	....	hair styles supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Joseph E. Rickards	....	assistant director

Art Department
Don B. Greenwood	....	property master

Sound Department
Warren B. Delaplain	....	sound
Carlton W. Faulkner	....	sound supervisor
W.D. Flick	....	sound
Walter Rossi	....	sound editor

Stunts
Chuck Roberson	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
T.L. Gubbins	....	camera operator
Scotty McEwin	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles Le Maire	....	executive wardrobe designer

Editorial Department
Leonard Doss	....	color consultant

Music Department
George Adams	....	supervising music editor
Lionel Newman	....	musical director

Other crew
Mitsuo Hirotsu	....	technical advisor
Minoru Inuzuka	....	dialogue coach
Kisaku Ito	....	technical art advisor
Teinosuke Kinugasa	....	script supervisor
Paul Nakaoka	....	assistant to producer
Kampo Yoshikawa	....	technical advisor: Japan
Angela Allen	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1958) (USA) (theatrical)
• Centfox (1958) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Key Video (199?) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Intrada  score album released by (limited edition)

Also Known As:

The Barbarian (USA) (working title)
The Townsend Harris Story (USA) (working title)
Der Barbar und die Geisha (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
O Bárbaro e a Gueixa (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Barbaari ja geisha (Finland) [fi]
Barbaren och geishan (Sweden) [sv]
El bárbaro y la Geisha (Spain) [es]
Il barbaro e la geisha (Italy) [it]
O varvaros kai i geisa (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | West Germany:6 (f)

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Based on the true story of American diplomat Townsend Harris, his time in Japan in the 1850s and 60s, and his romance with a 17-year-old geisha named Kichi. Their story is one of the most well-known folk tales in Japan. The real Harris died in New York in 1878, and the real Kichi committed suicide in Shimoda in 1892.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: At one point, Townsend calls to his Chinese servant Sam; this was not, as some thought, a mistaken reference to an actor's real name.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "SexTV: Geisha/Gilles Neret (#5.11)" (2003)

A Dud for the Duke

If you were to make a real film about Townsend Harris, the first American diplomat in Japan, the guy you would have cast in the role was Clifton Webb. The real Harris was an aesthete like Webb's persona on screen, never married, might have been gay as Webb was. Now that would have been an interesting film.

But done the way John Huston did it, with Harris as a romantic figure, Tyrone Power would have been perfect casting. I have a gut feeling that since 20th Century Fox produced this, the property might have been at one time meant for Power. Wayne looked so awkward and ridiculous

mouthing those romantic lines that Ty Power could have done in his sleep.

John Huston said that in casting John Wayne he was trying to show a clash of cultures, Tokugawa Japan being opened to the west by the young vibrant, expanding America and Huston saw Wayne as the personification of 19th century America. Well it didn't work. Supposedly both men developed a hearty dislike of the other.

I will say this though, it's a spectacularly photographed film and it does show quite accurately the Japan that Townsend Harris was dealing with.

But it was still one of the big duds for the Duke's career.