Wonderful Movie

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Dear Marlon Brando,you were an unusual casting choice for the role of Sakini, a sort of a Japanese man Friday to occupying American forces looking to spread democracy across Japan. You looked like you were having fun and for once I could understand exactly what you were saying as you were not mumbling. I would love to hear the story behind your casting as a Japanese villager.The film is a farcical and feel good social satire about American attempts to spread their values and way of life in the village of Tobiki, Okinawa after World War 2. Glenn Ford is the good hearted solider who is trying to impart the merits of democracy to the unsuspecting villagers with the help of Sakini. But things do not go according to plan and Ford's character ends up falling in love with the village and even helps them set up a brewery. A light-hearted study of American follies ..... I mean foreign policy and attitudes towards the natives, the film has some great one liners and some of the scenes are truly hilarious. It is worth the price of admission for your comedic role as a Japanese villager, Marlon. Paul Ford turns in a great performance as the hawkish Col. Wainwright Purdy III.Best Regards, Pimpin.(6/10)

This is a creepy and unfunny movie. Marlon Brando is at his hammy worst. Paul Ford barely bothers to make facial expressions. Glenn Ford is game, and Eddie Albert does what he can. But mostly I spent the movie cringing at the horrible script and Brando's repulsive yellow-face performance.I wonder what this movie looked like back in the 1950's when it was made. It was shortly after the end of World War II. Perhaps it was intended as a way to humanize the Japanese (by having a non-Japanese give a clichéd and hackneyed performance in bad makeup). Maybe this movie wasn't as creepy back then. I'm at a loss as to why anyone would consider it to be tolerable now.

NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD as part of the Marlon Brando Collection. One of the greatest Glenn Ford movies IMO. Brando disappears into the role of Sakini, an interpreter assigned to Captain Fisby, Glenn Ford. Area locations seem true to life, reminded me of my tour of duty on Okinawa with the US Marine Corps. Excellent situation comedy showing the influence of the Ryukyu Islands people on the US Army. Little geography follows: The Ryukyu Islands are a small chain of islands south of Japan and now once again part of Japan. Okinawa is the largest island, approximately 12 miles wide by 60 miles long at the maximums so the jeep driving around the island and continuing to run into water and fishing villages can be believed. Dip your toes into the East China sea on the eastern side of the island and swim in the Pacific Ocean on the west. Definitely a funny and feel good movie for the entire family.Socks Up, Boss!

Obviously, nowadays it makes us cringe that Marlon Brando plays a Japanese person, but "The Teahouse of the August Moon" is still a laugh riot. After WWII has ended, Capt. Fisby (Glenn Ford) is hired to spread democracy to an Okinawa village and build a school. But the townsfolk want a teahouse, and to convince him they even give him a present: a hot, over-enthusiastic geisha named Lotus Blossom (Machiko Kyo). When Fisby's superiors learn what's been going on, they naturally aren't pleased."TTOTAM" remains a comedy classic, especially with some of the dialogue between Fisby and his superiors ("I want to make sure that everything's distributed equally." "That's communism!"). How people come up with these wacky situations remains a mystery to me, but they did it with hilarious results. And above all, this movie shows us the problems with trying to spread democracy too quickly (Bush & Co. could learn something from this, given the mess that we've made in Iraq).