The Barbarian and the Geisha

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Moviecut—The Barbarian and the Geisha

The Barbarian and the Geisha

If I had realized John Wayne was in this movie, I would not have watched it. It's demeaning to the Japanese, unfortunate for Hollywood and embarrassing to any thinking person. But then, most John Wayne movies are like that. Hollywood in the fifties still believed that everybody in the world loved Americans when the truth was (and still is) somewhat different. The movie deals with the nineteenth century isolationism of Japan. Maybe it's Hollywood that should be isolated.To put it as succinctly as possible, this film is appalling jingoistic claptrap.(Sort of a Madama Butterfly with bad music.)

There are often badly-matched couples (in the general sense of the term) -in Huston's movies :"African Queen" "Heaven knows Mister Allison" "roots of Heaven" "Misfits" ..."The Barbarian and the geisha" (check the title) is another good example,so to speak.It seems that Japanese stuff was trendy at the time as such works as "Sayonara" " the world of Suzie Wong" and "the teahouse of the August moon" bear witness. Huston's effort might be the worst of this rather bad lot(with the exception of "Susie " maybe).John Wayne perfectly fits in Ford's world ,in Huston's he's like a bull in a china shop.His Japanese partner is totally bland.Even the dramatic scenes (cholera epidemic) do not save the movie from absolute boredom. Only those utterly enamoured of Huston's every work need to choose this ,among all his other great movies around.

The director John Huston disowned the movie after both John Wayne and the studio mangled and reshot anything that had to do with the director's vision. John Wayne is miscast in this rather pedestrian and inaccurate depiction of history. Compared to any of the on-location Asian films of the time....Sayonara, Teahouse of the August Moon, the House of Bamboo, Inn of the Sixth Happiness...this is by far the worst. The performances were bland with an out of place Wayne making a very dryly scripted romance even more boring.. They could have had more suspense and at least follow a true historical ending.

The Barbarian and the Geisha was an interesting film. It isn't entirely successful, but I can say that both star John Wayne and director John Huston have done much worse. The Barbarian and the Geisha does have its problems. The story is occasionally a little melodramatic, with the interracial love story not developed as well as it could have been, while the film could have done at a much tighter pace. The script also has its good points, but also some stilted and overly pompous moments too, while John Wayne is a little out-of-place and awkward in the lead. However, the film is spectacularly photographed, has a good score and has a very interesting subject matter that is presented well. The film is well-directed by Huston and Eiko Ando is beguiling and charming. Overall, a decent film, could have been better but it wasn't as bad as I was led to believe. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Not an action packed John Wayne adventure but enjoyable for it's own merits. Those merits include an interesting look at Japan circa 1856 and how the arrival of non-Japanese were looked on with fear and loathing. There are some odd directorial dead spots such as when Wayne as Townsend Harris is told he cannot fly the American flag. The Duke agrees to take it down but gives a speech stating that he will fly the flag at certain times. The scene trails off somewhat anti-climactically despite seemingly leading up to a dramatic confrontation. On the whole I found the film entertaining and worth viewing.

John Wayne and John Houston didn't see eye to eye on "The Barbarian and the Geisha," and Wayne had the last word on this East meets West saga. After everything that Huston had done to make the film work, Wayne undid it during post-production. The big question is why did the two men who ultimately wound up hating each other would such a historical period piece. Wayne is miscast as America's first consul to Japan, and he looks entirely out of place in this dull and loquacious saga. If you're interested in history, "The Barbarian and the Geisha" might be your cup of tea. This is one movie that most Wayne fans can live their entire lives and never see and never miss anything. Inferior from start to finish.

A Hollywood mini-epic that is more about the barbarian's political strategies than the geisha's sensual art. In fact, though John Wayne was the right choice for the role of Townsend Harris, the first US consul general in Japan, he looks awkward as a romantic lead, especially besides sleek Eiko Ando as the geisha. Huston handled the Japanese aspects of the story in a reverent fashion; the film even begs for subtitles, since he let the Japanese perform considerable portions of dialogue in their native language. As Wayne –perhaps for different reasons- Huston must have felt attracted to the colonialist side of the story, but although it's known that Fox reshot scenes and re-edited the film, there wasn't much to do with a script concealing the expansionist interest in breaking Japan isolationism behind the Consul General's demagogy. A recommended curio.