The Ginger Tree

"The Ginger Tree" spans nearly half a century of history in Japan and tells the story of a woman from Scotland who marries in China and then spends most of her life in Japan. It is a story of love set in a time when women had few rights in Japan and, yet, this woman persevered and excelled. All the drama takes place during a time in history little known by Westerners and the film drama serves to open one's eyes to life in a different culture and different time. There are many sub-themes and one can get a feel for Japan during those crucial pre-WWII years that has not been portrayed in any other film I've seen. It is a shame this film is not available and it has been 10 years since it was first shown. The acting is superb and sensitive in this story of courage and adventure of a woman who was truly 'before her time.' At present, all attempts to locate a copy of this film have been to no avail. Hopefully, some organization will realize how important a drama this is and market it for general viewing.

I have been searching for a video copy of The Ginger Tree by Oswald Wynd for many years. Of all the series I have viewed on PBS over the years, this particularly beautiful and bittersweet love story that bridges two very different cultures had the most profound effect on me. Though I have read the book several times, it just makes me more eager to experience the film again. I have contacted representatives from WETA in Alexandria, VA, but they don't believe that they will ever purchase the rights to even air it again. What a disappointment! Is there no way to contact the producers directly? One can hardly believe that it is lost to potential purchasers.

This series is now available in the UK. When it was originally transmitted I had no means of recording and only managed to see the last two episodes, but I was very impressed and had always wanted to watch the whole thing.

The background detail of life in early twentieth-century Japan is most interesting and the drama extremely moving. Mary's family circumstances and her reasons for marrying on such a brief acquaintance are very much left to the imagination. Presumably she was afraid of being left 'on the shelf' with no career to occupy her mind.

When Armand tells her about the ginkgo tree I wondered if a misunderstanding of this was the reason for the title, but no, it is all explained in the last episode.

I saw this when it was originally transmitted in UK in 1990. It is a brilliant portrayal of life in a culture which is very different from Western Europe and America and also it contains interesting historical information which all appears to have been accurately researched. It is the story of a young girl who went out to Manchuria in 1903 to marry an English Officer and all that happened to her subsequently. It is so detailed and thought provoking that it is very hard to imagine that this work is entirely fictional, even though it was written by an Englishman who was brought up in Japan and was bilingual. Having read the original novel and listened to the BBC audio book version since the serial was transmitted I do wonder why some of the truncation was undertaken - it could have been even more interesting. I have tried everywhere to get the UK version on video or DVD but have been unable to do so. I have seen the US version, which is not exactly the same as the UK version but would dearly like to view the whole of the UK transmission again. It must have cost an enormous amount of money to make so it is difficult to imagine why it was never made available in video format. Does anyone out there have a UK copy?

Like other reviewers here, I saw the original in the UK when it came out. That was the first time I saw Samantha Bond who has gone on to become a very popular actress. At the time I was living in London and had something of a fascination for Japanese culture so for me this series was spell binding.

The love story is beautiful done; we feel for the woman who loves not just another man, but a man from another culture during a time when this was an absolute "no". Then to have her child taken from her, our heart strings are pulled in the extreme. A good movie or series starts with superb writing and this was certainly that.

The Japanese man who played the lead was excellent, as was Samantha Bond. The sets, the production captured the essence of the Japanese way of life and feel of the setting in Japan.

I too would love to be able to see this series, in its original entirety, once again. Let's hope somehow that happens.