My Geisha (1962)

An actress disguises herself as a geisha in order to land the lead role in her director husband's film version of 'Madam Butterfly'.

Director:

Jack Cardiff

Writers:

Norman Krasna (screenplay), Norman Krasna (story)

Stars:

Shirley MacLaine, Yves Montand, Edward G. Robinson

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Shirley MacLaine	...	Lucy Dell / Yoko Mori
Yves Montand	...	Paul Robaix
Edward G. Robinson	...	Sam Lewis
Robert Cummings	...	Bob Moore
Yôko Tani	...	Kazumi Ito
Tatsuo Saitô	...	Kenichi Takata
Tamae Kiyokawa	...	Amatsu Hisako (as Tamae Kyokawa)
Ichirô Hayakawa	...	Hisako
Alex Gerry	...	Leonard Lewis
Tsugundo Maki	...	Shiga
George Furness	...	George (Robaix's butler)

Storyline

Paul Robaix is a well known director, married to Lucy Dell, a famous movie star. Robaix wants to make a movie of the classic play Madame Butterfly, but he doesn't want his wife to play the leading part, as in his previous pictures. Producer Sam Lewis and Lucy Dell think up a scheme to get her in the picture after all. Lucy disguises as a Geisha, and gets the leading part in the picture. When Robaix finds out he gets so mad, he wants to divorce Lucy...

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Plot Keywords:

kimono | screen test | audition | geisha house | female protagonist | 

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Taglines:

"My Geisha" and her guys!!!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

In an interview Shirley MacLaine stated that she was granted permission to live with real Geishas for two weeks, learning the intricacies of the delicate tea ceremony, the Japanese dance and how to play the stringed instrument. She also said that the makeup process caused a lot of problems. Her eyes were slanted by attaching gauze to the corners of her eyes with liquid adhesive. Strings were then fastened to the gauze and pulled around her head. She said that by the end of the picture her temples were raw and they had to shoot the picture carefully so that the damage did not show. She also had problems with the contact lenses, especially during the scene on the hillside when the smoke that was used to simulate mist got under the lenses.

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Goofs

When Paul Robaix (Yves Montand) plays rock-paper-scissors with a geisha, who unbeknownst to him is his wife Lucy Dell (Shirley MacLaine), a side camera view shows Montand taking his cigarette out of his mouth and putting it down before he plays the game. When he wins, the camera angle switches to MacLaine's point of view and shows Montand with the cigarette still in his mouth.

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Quotes

Sam Lewis: I'm not a philosopher; I'm a film producer!

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Connections

References The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956)

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Soundtracks

MADAMA BUTTERFLY
Sequences
Written by Giacomo Puccini, Luigi Illica, Giuseppe Giacosa
Performed by Shirley MacLaine (dubbed by Michiku Sunahara) and Robert Cummings (dubbed by Barry Morell)
Conducted by Franz Waxman

User Reviews

improbable, but entertaining....

"my geisha" is charming. suspend belief a bit, and one realises how good an actress shirley maclaine is and how convincingly she becomes a geisha.

the movie is fluff. but the attempt to parallel the plot to the libretto of "madama butterfly" is clever and almost successful. edward g.robinson as sharpless; maclaine as pinkerton, and montand as butterfly... it is a very literate attempt to use the sub-plot as the driver for the main plot.

there are moments when one is reminded of a doris day-rock hudson frolic - expected in a comedy from 1962. but there's also a real "edge" that comes from the characters being a little less than saccharine. as has been pointed out, the cinematography is quite sharp. so there is an air of substance to the production, and quality is evident.

in the end, though, one just should enjoy it.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

February 1962 (Austria)

Also Known As:

My Geisha

Filming Locations:

Hakone, Kanagawa, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Sachiko

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1