Japanese War Bride

Japanese War Bride
Japanese War Bride
	Promotional release poster
Directed by	King Vidor
Written by	Anson Bond (story); Catherine Turney (screenplay)
Produced by	Joseph Bernhard; Anson Bond
Starring	Shirley Yamaguchi; Don Taylor
Cinematography	Lionel Lindon
Edited by	Terry O. Morse
Music by	Arthur Lange; Emil Newman
Distributed by	20th Century-Fox
Release date	January 1952;
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Japanese War Bride (also known as East is East) is a 1952 American drama film directed by King Vidor. The film featured the American debut of Shirley Yamaguchi in the title role. In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor's career.^[1]

Plot

A wounded Korean War veteran, Jim Sterling, returns to his California home with his Japanese wife. The couple had met and fallen in love in a Japanese hospital where Tae Shimizu was working as a nurse. Back in America, the couple face racism and bigotry from their neighbors and family, particularly their sister-in-law, Fran.

Cast

Shirley Yamaguchi – Tae Shimizu, a nurse, wife to Jim Sterling
Don Taylor – Captain Jim Sterling, GI in the Korean War
Cameron Mitchell – Art Sterling, Jim's older brother
Marie Windsor – Fran Sterling, Art's wife
James Bell – Ed Sterling, Jim's father
Louise Lorimer – Harriet Sterling, Jim's mother
Philip Ahn – Eitaro Shimizu, Tae's grandfather
Lane Nakano – Shiro Hasagawa, the Sterlings' Japanese-American neighbor
May Takasugi – Emma Hasagawa, Shiro's wife
Sybil Merritt – Emily Shafer, a local girl
Orley Lindgren – Ted Sterling, Jim's younger brother
George Wallace – Woody Blacker, a friend of Jim Sterling
Kathleen Mulqueen – Mrs. Milly Shafer, a friend of Harriet Sterling

Impact and legacy

The widespread publicity surrounding the film's launch made Japanese wives increasingly visible in the United States. Along with The Teahouse of the August Moon and the more successful film Sayonara, Japanese War Bride was argued by some scholars to have increased racial tolerance in the United States by openly discussing interracial marriages.^[2]

References

^ "Berlinale 2020: Retrospective "King Vidor"". Berlinale. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
^ Sarah Kovner (2012). Occupying Power: Sex Workers and Servicemen in Postwar Japan. Stanford University Press. pp. 65–66. ISBN 978-0-8047-8346-0.

Sources

"Story of a Japanese War Bride", The New York Times, January 30, 1952.

External links

[1] "Berlinale 2020: Retrospective "King Vidor"". Berlinale. Retrieved 28 February 2020.

[Kovner2012-2] Sarah Kovner (2012). Occupying Power: Sex Workers and Servicemen in Postwar Japan. Stanford University Press. pp. 65–66. ISBN 978-0-8047-8346-0.

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