Escapade in Japan (1957)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Arthur Lubin

Writer:

Winston Miller (written by)

Release Date:

November 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family

Tagline:

The exciting adventures of two little runaway boys in Japan!

Plot:

A plane on its way to Japan is forced to land at sea just off the Japanese coast. A small American boy...

Plot Keywords:

Boy | Japan | Airplane Accident

Cast

Teresa Wright	...	Mary Saunders
Cameron Mitchell	...	Dick Saunders
Jon Provost	...	Tony Saunders
Roger Nakagawa	...	Hiko
Philip Ober	...	Lt. Col. Hargrave
Kuniko Miyake	...	Michiko Tanaka
Susumu Fujita	...	Kei Tanaka
Katsuhiko Haida	...	Captain Hibino
Tatsuo Saito	...	Mr. Fushimi
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Russ Conway	...	Airliner Co-pilot (uncredited)
Clint Eastwood	...	Dumbo Pilot (uncredited)
Ureo Egawa	...	Chief of Kyoto Police (uncredited)
Ayako Hidaka	...	Farmer's Wife (uncredited)
Hideko Koshikawa	...	Dekko-San, Kyoto Schoolgirl (uncredited)
Frank Tokunaga	...	Farmer (uncredited)

Directed by
Arthur Lubin

Writing credits
Winston Miller		(written by)

Produced by
Arthur Lubin	....	producer
Winston Miller	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Max Steiner

Cinematography by
William E. Snyder		(director of photography) (as William Snyder)

Film Editing by
Otto Ludwig

Art Direction by
George W. Davis
Walter Holscher

Set Decoration by
Shinz Isa

Production Management
Ben Chapman	....	unit production manager
William Dozier	....	in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gordon McLean	....	assistant director (as Gordon Mclean)

Sound Department
Terry Kellum	....	sound
Francis J. Scheid	....	sound

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Frank Beetson Jr.	....	wardrobe supervisor (as Frank Beetson)

Music Department
Murray Cutter	....	orchestrator

Other crew
Kei Nagashima	....	technical advisor

Production Companies

• Arthur Lubin Productions (uncredited)

Distributors

• RKO Radio Pictures (1957) (USA) (theatrical)
• Universal Pictures (1957) (USA) (theatrical)
• J. Arthur Rank Film (1959) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• United Video (video)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

UK:U | Iceland:L | West Germany:6 | USA:Approved (certificate #18307) | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Horyu-ji Temple, Nara, Japan

Company:

Arthur Lubin Productions

Trivia:

Originally made by RKO Pictures, but was acquired and released by Universal Pictures after RKO closed down.

A Charming and Exciting Chase in Japan

Young Jon Provost, later to star in "Lassie", got his first notice in this charming story of a chase in 1950's Japan. He plays the son of an American couple working in Japan who survives a airplane ditching off the coastline; he got separated from the crew, and in the fog is picked up by a fisherman.

This Japanese fishing family befriends him, even though they cannot talk to him, not knowing English. The boy, however, fears he did something wrong when he sees many Japanese police searching the village. He flees, along with the slightly older son of the fisherman. Then begins the chase between the police and the American couple, and the two boys who fear the police only try to find you when you've done something wrong.

The bulk of the movie is of the two boys fleeing through Japan and seeing different and interesting sights on their odyssey. It is in effect a travelogue of post-war Japan. The final scenes on top of a tall Shinto religious temple are exciting enough.

Colorful, and good family fare, the film also was a clear attempt to ease hostilities between the United States and a Japan that just a decade before had been a hated enemy. They did this by showing the Japanese as human being as concerned about their missing son as the Americans were about theirs.

Recommended! Give it a try if you see it.