The Japanese War Bride (Yamaguchi) marries handsome American Lt. Sterling (Taylor) who takes her to California where she is met with American rudeness, resentment, contempt and outright dislike by his family and friends. She does everything she possibly can to please them and fit in but can't break their rigid barriers. Every character is so well acted, even the unlikable ones, that the discomfort and eventual pain and anguish are very credible as they develop to a crisis leading to the estrangement of the earnest, loving Lt. from his family and property. His lovely wife blames herself for all their problems and this drives a wedge between them. Will he lose the woman he loves so much, as well as his infant son? Viewers will relate to these ordinary Americans and their difficulty in dealing with situations outside of their norm. Beautifully understated but effectively eloquent, this neglected film gem still has as much to say now as it did in 1952. Don't miss this one...Shirley Yamaguchi's and Don Taylor's excellent performances will leave a lasting impression.
5 Reviews
This movie is a gem and should be better known
a66633317 May 2010
This movie is the real goods. It is relevant, subtle, well rounded and believable. The transformation from hopeful expectation for the new couple to awkward circumstances and passive resistance and the resulting series of crises and their resolution are very well handled. The budget is low but the directing and location filming are all well done and a larger budget or heavier use of cinematography are not needed in such a story-dialogue driven film. The cast is not a stellar A-list but is well up to the task. Everyone does well. The title "Japanese War Bride" is simple and perhaps too direct. Maybe that causes people to pass it over. Don't, this is 90 minutes well spent.
Bringing Home a Bride to a Hostile Reception
Uriah4312 June 2022
This film begins with a soldier named "Lt. Jim Sterling" (Don Taylor) being sent to a hospital in Japan after being wounded in battle during the Korean War. Once there he meets a nurse by the name of "Tae Shimizu" (Shirley Yamaguichi) and the two fall in love and subsequently get married. Not long afterward, Jim Sterling receives a medical discharge and both he and Tae fly back to his home in California. Yet, even though Jim's parents are delighted to see him, his mother "Harriet Sterling" (Louise Lorimer) isn't nearly as excited to see his new bride. Neither is Jim's new sister-in-law "Fran Sterling" (Marie Windsor) who has long had feelings for Jim and doesn't like the fact that he has recently been married--especially to someone outside of his own race. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film was released during a time when a sizeable number of soldiers stationed in Japan brought home Japanese brides to sometimes hostile receptions. To that extent, this film was somewhat predictable in nature. Fortunately, the rather suspenseful ending makes it worth the view and I have rated this movie accordingly. Slightly above average.
Delicately told and heart felt
kirksworks3 April 2011
As an American married to a Japanese woman this movie really surprised both me and my wife for it's honest depiction of racism in America shortly after WWII. For a Hollywood film of 1952, "Japanese War Bride" is a balanced portrayal of race relations between white Americans and both Japanese nationals and Japanese Americans. It's a hard film to find and the DVD available is a DVD-R, with decent but not great quality. Still, the disc I found is very watchable.
Wounded during his service in the Korean War, American Jim Sterling falls in love with his Japanese nurse, Tae Shimizu, and visits her home in Japan to ask her father for permission to marry. Actually, the film makers never went to Japan. That scene was shot at what is now the Yamashiro Restaurant, in the Hollywood hills, overlooking Grauman's Chinese Theater. But most the story takes place and was shot in Salinas, California.
Upon arriving at the family home with his new bride, Jim is confronted by suppressed and not so suppressed hostilities towards his new bride. Initially, Jim's mother has a hard time relating to Tae, but the good nature of Tae and her desire to win over the appreciation of her husband's mother succeeds. Watching the mother finally open her hardened heart to Tae in a scene where Tae massages her mother-in-law's back, is quite touching, nicely performed by both Shirley Yamaguchi as Tae and Louise Lorimer as mother Sterling.
Marie Winsor, who made a career out of vengeful, hateful women in films like "The Killing" and "The Narrow Margin," excels here in the same kind of role, as Jim's sister-in-law who still holds a torch. Nobody seemed to do these kinds of roles as well as she did.
In fact, the whole cast is good, if a bit obvious and stilted in places, due to the acting style of the day. Nevertheless, the raw emotions people display in this story come across as honest and not forced. Yamaguchi's performance as Tae is easily the most polished and subtle of all the actors. Watching her learn and respond to the various attitudes white America shows her as she struggles to maintain her dignity is beautifully portrayed by Yamaguchi. Clearly, this actress knew quite well what she was portraying.
And Don Taylor as Jim, who may be a bit too vigorous for some, still he comes across as fair-minded and the genuine affection he shows for Tae is heartwarming. Their love scenes evoke a lot of charm. It took many years for Hollywood to show a white male movie star kissing a black actress on screen. it didn't happen until 1971 when Charlton Heston kissed Rosalind Cash in "The Omega Man." Yet, in "Japanese War Bride" there are very many scenes where Don Taylor passionately kisses Shirley Yamaguchi on screen. Although Taylor was not a big star like Heston, this film was clearly ahead of it's time.
My wife told me that a large percentage of the men who married Japanese war brides ended up in divorce, some of the women coming to America to find their husbands already married to white women. Yet, this film does a good job of capturing a shameful period of American history that did exist, and still exists in some places today.
The director, King Vidor, was clearly a romantic, and though many of his films are somewhat dated, they still pull strongly at my own heart strings. As a romantic myself, I respond to his films. "The Crowd," "Bird of Paradise," "Stella Dallas," "Comrade X," "H. M. Pulham, Esq," "Duel in the Sun," and even his less than stellar version of "War and Peace" all have moments that get through to me.
Though the ending is a bit overly dramatic, as a film about relations between Americans and Japanese, "Japanese War Bride" is, in my opinion, superior to and less soapy than 1957's "Sayonara," a much higher profile film. If you're a romantic and can find a copy of "Japanese War Bride," I think you'll be surprised by it's depth and honesty.
Wounded during his service in the Korean War, American Jim Sterling falls in love with his Japanese nurse, Tae Shimizu, and visits her home in Japan to ask her father for permission to marry. Actually, the film makers never went to Japan. That scene was shot at what is now the Yamashiro Restaurant, in the Hollywood hills, overlooking Grauman's Chinese Theater. But most the story takes place and was shot in Salinas, California.
Upon arriving at the family home with his new bride, Jim is confronted by suppressed and not so suppressed hostilities towards his new bride. Initially, Jim's mother has a hard time relating to Tae, but the good nature of Tae and her desire to win over the appreciation of her husband's mother succeeds. Watching the mother finally open her hardened heart to Tae in a scene where Tae massages her mother-in-law's back, is quite touching, nicely performed by both Shirley Yamaguchi as Tae and Louise Lorimer as mother Sterling.
Marie Winsor, who made a career out of vengeful, hateful women in films like "The Killing" and "The Narrow Margin," excels here in the same kind of role, as Jim's sister-in-law who still holds a torch. Nobody seemed to do these kinds of roles as well as she did.
In fact, the whole cast is good, if a bit obvious and stilted in places, due to the acting style of the day. Nevertheless, the raw emotions people display in this story come across as honest and not forced. Yamaguchi's performance as Tae is easily the most polished and subtle of all the actors. Watching her learn and respond to the various attitudes white America shows her as she struggles to maintain her dignity is beautifully portrayed by Yamaguchi. Clearly, this actress knew quite well what she was portraying.
And Don Taylor as Jim, who may be a bit too vigorous for some, still he comes across as fair-minded and the genuine affection he shows for Tae is heartwarming. Their love scenes evoke a lot of charm. It took many years for Hollywood to show a white male movie star kissing a black actress on screen. it didn't happen until 1971 when Charlton Heston kissed Rosalind Cash in "The Omega Man." Yet, in "Japanese War Bride" there are very many scenes where Don Taylor passionately kisses Shirley Yamaguchi on screen. Although Taylor was not a big star like Heston, this film was clearly ahead of it's time.
My wife told me that a large percentage of the men who married Japanese war brides ended up in divorce, some of the women coming to America to find their husbands already married to white women. Yet, this film does a good job of capturing a shameful period of American history that did exist, and still exists in some places today.
The director, King Vidor, was clearly a romantic, and though many of his films are somewhat dated, they still pull strongly at my own heart strings. As a romantic myself, I respond to his films. "The Crowd," "Bird of Paradise," "Stella Dallas," "Comrade X," "H. M. Pulham, Esq," "Duel in the Sun," and even his less than stellar version of "War and Peace" all have moments that get through to me.
Though the ending is a bit overly dramatic, as a film about relations between Americans and Japanese, "Japanese War Bride" is, in my opinion, superior to and less soapy than 1957's "Sayonara," a much higher profile film. If you're a romantic and can find a copy of "Japanese War Bride," I think you'll be surprised by it's depth and honesty.
Boring, poor attempt to face social issues of the time
wooley413 October 2011
Over dramatic movie featuring an over dramatic family trying to deal with a Japanese woman. This movie trying to shed light on what its like to be a Japanese war bride after WWII. Maybe it was interesting if you were alive and faced these issues at the time. Not much of a story consists mostly of people talking and being idiots. This would be a boring play much less a movie. If you love old movies that should have been plays... GO FOR IT. If you like movies with actual substance and is not entirely based on the hope that you care a ton about 1 outdated social issue. You may want to find another movie. Any movie. I have no idea why people would think this is a good movie.
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