Teahouse of the August Moon, The (1956)
Directed by Daniel Mann, with a screenplay by John Patrick (The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)), this comedy features Marlon Brando as an Asian, one year before he would play a Southerner & U.S. Air Force officer who falls in love with a Korean in Sayonara (1957). Set in post-World War II Okinawa, it's a story about the U.S. military’s occupation and attempts to introduce Western concepts, such as democracy, to a small community on the island. Charged with overall responsibility, Colonel Purdy (Paul Ford) assigns the bumbling Captain Fisby (Glenn Ford) and his native interpreter Sakini (Brando) to lead the building of a Pentagon-shaped schoolhouse for the village of Tobiki. But the natives have other plans. Frustrated with Fisby’s lack of progress, Purdy assigns psychiatrist Captain McLean (twice Supporting Actor Oscar nominee Eddie Albert) to check up on him. Once there, McLean learns that Fisby has utilized geisha girl Lotus Blossom (Machiko Kyô) to share her training with the other women in the village. Given an opportunity to test his organic gardening techniques, McLean soon becomes Fisby’s friend as the two officers become "seduced" by the islanders’ native ways. The Okinawans learn all too well the concept of democracy and vote to build a teahouse in lieu of the planned schoolhouse. All is "well" until Purdy and his Sergeant (the Emmy winning Harry Morgan) come for a visit.
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