The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958) on Netflix
TV-G19581h 45mAdventureDramaHistory
In 1856, President Franklin Pierce sends Townsend Harris to Japan as the first American consul general. Governor Tamura refuses his credentials, and the geisha Okichi is sent to attend him.
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- Netflix2.5/5
- IMDb5.8/102,439 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes40%
Trailer
Plot summary
President Franklin Pierce names Townsend Harris the first American consul general to Japan in 1856, two years after Commodore Matthew C. Perry's treaty. Harris comes ashore at Shimoda with Henry Heusken, his translator and secretary, and three Chinese servants. Governor Tamura will not accept his credentials: the Japanese read the treaty as allowing a consul only when both countries ask for one. Tamura says that in the two years since Perry's visit natural disasters had struck, and some Japanese took them as signs from the gods warning against foreign influence. Harris may stay only as a private citizen, in an abandoned house beside the town cemetery. Tamura orders the townspeople not to sell him food, he may not leave Shimoda or go closer to Edo, a hundred miles away, and he obeys when told to take down the American flag.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- While filming in Japan, John Wayne and director John Huston did not get along, and in one altercation on the set Wayne throttled and punched Huston.
- The film draws on the Japanese legend of Harris and the 17-year-old geisha Okichi, who was pressured into the relationship, then ostracized as "Barbarian Okichi" after he left Japan, took to drinking and killed herself in 1892.
- 20th Century Fox heavily re-edited the film before release, and John Huston denounced that version and wanted his name removed from the credits, saying only a few edits of his intended Japanese photography, pacing, color and narration survived.
- Historians say most of the Okichi story is untrue: she was a real person but merely one of Townsend Harris's housekeepers, and he apparently fired her after only three days of working for him.
