To me, this movie is perfection.

One of my all time favorites.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Blistering performances.

In the 1850's Townsend Harris was dispatched by President Pierce to Japan to establish open trade with Japan. While there, he forms a relationship with a beautiful young geisha named Okichi. The Barbarian And The Geisha, although perhaps not completely accurate to true life of the events it depicts does give us a beautiful look into the the look and feel of Japan of the mid-1800's. Shot entirely in Japan, the scenery is stunning, and the costumes, especially those of the Geisha are truly beautiful. We are invited to watch Geisha in performance; dancing, singing, and entertaining. One scene features a large group of Geisha playing the koto, a stringed instrument central in Japanese music and culture, and the sound is transporting to the "mysterious Orient". Japanese language is heard throughout the movie, kudos to Huston there, and the characters communicate largely through a translator which also puts us more into the place of Harris' experience in Japan. This element mixed with a limited number of bilingual Japanese characters avoids the lameness of just having everyone speak English for the sake of the American Audience or having to use subtitles at all. Although you won't find yourself on the edge of your seat, or swept by the moving story or a dramatic romance with this film, it covers the subject matter with a commendable ease and the visual elements are enough within themselves to ride out the entire picture.

If you were to make a real film about Townsend Harris, the first American diplomat in Japan, the guy you would have cast in the role was Clifton Webb. The real Harris was an aesthete like Webb's persona on screen, never married, might have been gay as Webb was. Now that would have been an interesting film.But done the way John Huston did it, with Harris as a romantic figure, Tyrone Power would have been perfect casting. I have a gut feeling that since 20th Century Fox produced this, the property might have been at one time meant for Power. Wayne looked so awkward and ridiculous mouthing those romantic lines that Ty Power could have done in his sleep.John Huston said that in casting John Wayne he was trying to show a clash of cultures, Tokugawa Japan being opened to the west by the young vibrant, expanding America and Huston saw Wayne as the personification of 19th century America. Well it didn't work. Supposedly both men developed a hearty dislike of the other.I will say this though, it's a spectacularly photographed film and it does show quite accurately the Japan that Townsend Harris was dealing with.But it was still one of the big duds for the Duke's career.

A Hollywood mini-epic that is more about the barbarian's political strategies than the geisha's sensual art. In fact, though John Wayne was the right choice for the role of Townsend Harris, the first US consul general in Japan, he looks awkward as a romantic lead, especially besides sleek Eiko Ando as the geisha. Huston handled the Japanese aspects of the story in a reverent fashion; the film even begs for subtitles, since he let the Japanese perform considerable portions of dialogue in their native language. As Wayne –perhaps for different reasons- Huston must have felt attracted to the colonialist side of the story, but although it's known that Fox reshot scenes and re-edited the film, there wasn't much to do with a script concealing the expansionist interest in breaking Japan isolationism behind the Consul General's demagogy. A recommended curio.

An interesting look at Japan prior to opening to the West. John Wayne as America's first consul to Japan arrives in accordance with agreements resulting from Perry's gunboat diplomacy. He is not welcome. Wayne eventually wins his meeting with the Shogun after bring a cholera epidemic, introduced by an American ship, under control. There follows a colorful procession to the capital bearing gifts for the Shogun, including a bottle of Old Tanglefoot. The meeting with the Shogun, the debates among the Japanese nobles and an assassination during an archery exhibit present an interesting look at the politics of the period. Altogether a rather enjoyable movie and besides how often do you get to see the Duke lose a fight to a guy half his size.