Für Amerikaner verboten?

In 1949 Occupied Japan, a U.S. Army sergeant who despises the locals ultimately finds a soft spot in his heart while working with the nuns and children at a bedraggled orphanage, soon falling in love with a Japanese translator. Although this story is based upon fact, with the real-life protagonist Sgt. Hugh O'Reilly acting as technical adviser, one hesitates to swallow such a big lump of sugar. The film has been designed as a heart warmer, and yet--as bullet-chested, no-nonsense Aldo Ray plays O'Reilly--the character's complete transformation into an old softy is rather too good to be true. Ray, who got stuck in a revolving door of battle films during this period, isn't an animated actor on-screen, his personality mostly consisting of a stoic manliness; here, he strains to utilize his goofy laugh and dumb-mug smile to convince us he's just a big kid on the playground (one with love in his eyes). Ray is a decent actor, but this part would be a stretch for even the most accomplished performer. Buddy Dick York gets some second-banana laughs, Phil Carey is a by-the-books colonel whose heart eventually thaws, while the sisters and little ones are constantly around to milk the audience for the utmost treacly effect. I didn't believe a minute of it. ** from ****