Madame Butterfly

There is no way in the world a film like "Madame Butterfly" could be made today. After all, the entire cast of Japanese folks are played by white folks painted up to look like Asians. Such things were pretty common back in the day....and included films like the Charlie Chan series, "Dragon Seed" (with Katharine Hepburn playing a Chinese lady) and "The Conqueror" (with John Wayne as Genghis Khan and his hottie played by red-headed Susan Hayward!!). My complaint is not just that they are offensive but they also really were ridiculous...especially when Hollywood could have easily given jobs to Asian actors! But such was the attitude of the day....and such is the Japaneseness of "Madame Butterfly". Now not all is bad when it comes to the 'Japanese' in the film. The costumes and sets are terrific and it is obvious Paramount spent a lot of money to make the film. So, at least it looks great.

The story is based on the David Belasco play which was then made into a Puccini opera by the same name. The film, however, is not an opera though some of the music from the opera is included as incidental music.

Lt. Pinkerton (Cary Grant) goes out on the town with his navy pal, Lt. Barton (Charlie Ruggles). Soon Pinkerton meets Cho-Cho San (Sylvia Sidney) and he's smitten with her. But he's informed that he cannot date her or spend time with this geisha. Barton sees a loophole and suggests Pinkerton marry her....and then dump her when his ship leaves. She doesn't realize that Pinkerton is a dirty dog and they are married. Soon after the wedding, Pinkerton leaves....and Cho-Cho waits several years for him to return. In the meantime, she's had his child...a child who he doesn't know he has. Later, Pinkerton returns to Japan....with his new American wife!! What's next? Well, it's best I don't spoil it...see the film.

The story is lovingly made and looks great...and it's also quite moving. It is such a darn shame, then, that the casting decisions were so stupid....fine for 1932 but still stupid when you see it today. Part of this problem isn't just because such casting seems racist. It's also that folks in 2020 know a lot more about Japanese culture and know that what they are being given here is less Japan....and a lot more Puccini and Belasco.

Overall, a very good film version but one that begs to be remade. And, I have to knock off a point for Grant's singing...it's among the worst I've ever heard by an actor...even worse than Lee Marvin's singing in "Paint Your Wagon" but thankfully Grant's is confined to only one terrible song....and it's not a musical with multiple numbers!

Heaven knows what possessed Paramount to cast Sylvia Sydney in this in the first place, unless it was a desire to find a novel context for her to suffer in. Given that they did, it's actually been done with taste and elegance, Puccini is used quite well as incidental music on the soundtrack, and Miss Sidney is as moving as she always is (we can imagine only too well what a western woman wronged so grievously would have done with the dagger she reaches purposefully for at the conclusion).

Those outraged at the casting of a Jewish/American actress as a geisha should also take note of the fact that All-American cad Pinkerton is played by a Bristolian.

An American naval officer leaves his Japanese wife without realising she is pregnant with their son. Ponderous film version of Puccini's opera that features none of its music until the final credits. Sidney is good as the tragic Cho-Cho San, but Cary Grant gets little chance to shine as B. F. Pinkerton, who comes across as a flippant and unlikable character. The couple's reunion is achingly poignant, but it's a bit of a slog getting to it.

it is a shame that movies like this one don't get much attention!.. Cary Grand is playing a role of an American Lieutenant who marries a Japanese woman who wanted to be a geisha. it's a tragic romantic story, about loyalty and how some cultures don't understand other cultures. it's a classic movie.. short and no unnecessary scenes. all the scenes are related to the plot. i liked it a lot, enjoyed watching it, and Cary Grant was so young!. it made me learn something about the Japanese culture: how they are very loyal, accept other cultures, and maybe adopt them as well. how they are honorable, and live to be good people and be honored till the end. the plot is well developed, and the action of the movie happens fast.

A straightforward, non-musical adaptation of Giacomo Puccini's immortal opera, this early version of the classic story is based solely on David Belasco's original play. In other words, there is no actual opera present (although some of Puccini's magnificent score is used as underscore) and the film plays out completely as straight drama. The screenplay does not make any considerable attempt to disguise its stage-bound origins, although the Russian-born director Marion Gering (who helmed many pictures for star Sylvia Sidney) does a competent job of approximating the look and feeling of war-era Japan. This was decades before on-location filming became a standard practice, and the film's art design and set decoration manages to perform the difficult task of disguising the Paramount lot as such another distinct country within comparatively meager resources.

The luminous Sylvia Sydney takes a significant gamble in attempting to play the young Japanese girl Cho-Cho San (in fact, such casting would undoubtedly be seen as politically incorrect today), however, the Bronx-born actress is more than up to the challenge and delivers quite a totally convincing performance. The character of Cho-Cho is so incredibly passive and naïve that she often comes dangerously close to becoming an artificial caricature, yet Sydney portrays the role with such genuine pathos and non-cloying sweetness that she comes across as tragic rather than foolish. Her accent also always sounds credible, and she even manages to believably look Japanese with the assist of limited stage makeup. I was terribly impressed wither her overall performance.

A young Cary Grant ably plays the object of Cho-Cho's tragic love, and he looks breathtakingly handsome in his Navy uniform. The bulk of the movie consists of Sydney and Grant playing off one another, although Charles Ruggles is likable as Grant's fellow Lieutenant. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Shelia Terry's "other woman" character is portrayed as being sympathetic and understanding, when she would have surely been written and acted as a one-dimensional monster by most filmmakers of the era. None of the characters in the "Japanese" supporting cast (nearly all of whom are American-born actors playing Japanese) are fleshed out enough to stand out, although Edmund Breese is convincing as Cho-Cho's stereotypically disapproving grandfather.

If the film has a primary shortcoming, it is that the entire premise feels a little flat when performed as a straight drama. Although it is well-written and reasonably paced, the drama simply does not soar to the appropriate level of intensity without the accompanying swell of the opera. There is still much to recommend, however, in this very touching picture, primarily the terrific performance of Sydney, which is worth watching totally on its own merit. I really do wish this film would be properly released on home video, as it deserves to be seen.