Line #17 Theatre/TheTeahouseOfTheAugustMoon


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3	''The Teahouse of the August Moon'' began life as a 1951 novel by Vern Schneider, which was adapted into a UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize-winning 1953 play, and then into a 1956 film directed by Daniel Mann and starring Creator/MarlonBrando, Creator/GlennFord, and Creator/MachikoKyo.
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5	The story, a comedy, is set in Okinawa in 1946, during the American occupation. Glenn Ford is Captain Fisby, a well-meaning but ineffectual officer sent by his commander, Col. Purdy, to Americanize the village of Tobiki. Sakini (Brando in {{Yellowface}}) is his interpreter, a wily local who manipulates Purdy and Fisby for the good of the village. Capt. Fisby arrives in Tobiki intending to execute the rather rigid American game plan for reconstruction -- democracy unions, lectures on democratic government, a schoolhouse shaped like the Pentagon -- but the locals win him over and convince him to build a teahouse and start a distillery. Capt. Fisby's willingness to accommodate the locals is increased when he is given (yes, given) a geisha named Lotus Blossom (Kyo) to look after his every need. Things are going swimmingly until a surprise visit from Col. Purdy (Paul Ford) threatens to ruin everything.
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7	Something of a PlayingAgainstType role for Brando, who didn't do a lot of light comedies. Machiko Kyo's only English-language film.
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9	----
10	!! The Tropehouse of the August Moon:
11	* {{Bookends}}: Sakini addresses the audience at the beginning of the film and the end.
12	* BreakingTheFourthWall: The opening scene features Sakini addressing the camera directly, setting the scene. The last scene ends with Sakini addressing the camera again, to tell the audience that the story is over.
13	* CultureClash: Much humor derives from the {{Eagleland}} nature of Col. Purdy and Capt. Fisby and how they react to the natives.
14	* DoorClosesEnding: Almost. The paper door closes on Sakini, but there's a last shot of the tea house, with the August moon above it, before the movie ends.
15	* DramaticIrony: Col. Purdy says over the telephone that "It's bound to get lonely for you over there." As he says this Fisby, on the other end of the telephone, is desperately trying to fend off the attentions of Lotus Blossom, who is trying to strip off his uniform and dress him in Japanese fashion.
16	* EvilColonialist: A surprisingly pointed lampoon of American imperialism and chauvinism, especially for 1950s Hollywood. In his opening narration Sakini snarks that being conquered all the time is convenient for the Okinawans because "culture come to us". Purdy snorts that there's no need for him or Frisby to learn Japanese because "we won the war". Later Purdy gets more evil, when he has the stills smashed and the tea house destroyed because it's not what the occupation playbook says.
17	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
18	** In his opening monologue Sakini says that the Okinawans are accustomed to hiding their stuff away when conquerors arrive. Towards the end he tells Col. Purdy that they didn't really destroy the teahouse and the stills as Col. Purdy had ordered, but rather hid them away.
19	** Early in the film, Col. Purdy the worrier says "Suppose some congressman flew in to inspect our team." This is exactly what happens at the end, and that's what what saves the distillery and the tea house.
20	* FunWithForeignLanguages: In the 1954 production starring Creator/EliWallach as Sakini, Wallach had prepared for the role by attempting to learn Japanese. When performing in London, he saw Japanese audience members and was worried what they'd think of him in the role, wondering if the British critics from an earlier performance had given these people free tickets just to harass him. And as soon as he went on stage, he forgot all the Japanese he learned. When the army captain asked Sakini to tell the natives that "there'll be rice for everyone," Wallach recited the only phrase he could remember: "The school will have five sides like the Pentagon." The Japanese audience members almost fell out of their seats laughing. He had said the wrong line in the right language.
21	* {{Geisha}}: Portrayed pretty accurately. Fisby assumes that Lotus Blossom is a HighClassCallGirl but Sakini explains that her job is dancing, conversation, and companionship.
22	* GoingNative: By the time Col. Purdy arrives in Tobiki, Capt. Fisby is wearing a kimono and wooden shoes.
23	* HappinessInSlavery: Well, Lotus Blossom is ''given'' to Capt. Fisby, and she isn't getting paid. And while she may not be a HighClassCallGirl, she is obviously perfectly happy to rub Capt. Fisby's feet and serve him tea and play music. Lotus Blossom says through Sakini that she likes Fisby because he doesn't hire her out to other people and take her wages.[[note]]Fisby assumes that she was owned by ''men'' who did this. The ''okiya'' houses where geisha are trained and then live are actually run by women, called ''Okasan'' (Mother). Maiko (apprentice) and geisha are given a small allowance and expected to turn over all their earnings and tips to the ''okiya'' to pay for their extensive training and expensive outfits. This indentured servitude takes a few years to pay off. Lotus Blossom may have completed this and now chooses to live independently (''jimae''), only paying dues to the geisha guild as Sakini points out. She likely thinks of Fisby as her patron, not her owner. It is ''she'' who asks for ''his'' hand in marriage at the end.[[/note]]
24	--> '''Sakini:''' She say she very happy to belong to handsome captain. She says she gonna serve you well.
25	* HeadTurningBeauty: Lotus Blossom, whose startling beauty is noticed by everybody. When Sakini says that Mr. Oshira, one of the village elders, left Tobiki specifically to help Lotus Blossom bring back all her things from Awasi, Frisby expresses incredulity. Sakini says "He old, boss, but he not dead."
26	--> '''Frisby''': She can't speak English.\
27	'''[=McLean=]''': ''She doesn't need to''.
28	* HyperCompetentSidekick / TheJeeves: Sakini is this, a benevolent trickster who manipulates Fisby into throwing away the occupation playbook (that's a LiteralMetaphor, there's an actual playbook) and doing real good in rebuilding the town.
29	* LargeHam: Paul Ford as Col. Purdy.
30	* MightyWhitey: Col. Purdy has a rather low opinion of the locals.
31	--> "My job is to teach these natives the meaning of democracy. And they're gonna learn democracy if I have to shoot every one of them!"
32	* MightyWhiteyAndMellowYellow: Lotus Blossom is clearly besotted with Capt. Fisby, and he with her. At the end she asks to marry him, but he says he wants to leave their relationship pure.
33	* OpenDoorOpening: The movie starts with three paper doors opening in succession to reveal Sakini, who starts talking to the audience.
34	* RealityHasNoSubtitles: No subtitles for the Japanese dialogue; hardly any Hollywood movies of the day used subtitles. Most of the Japanese is either background chatter or quickly translated by Sakini, but there is an entire scene between Lotus Blossom and her young male admirer that plays out in unsubtitled Japanese. It's still easy to interpret however: the young man who obviously is entranced by Lotus Blossom gives her a flower and acts worshipful, but she gives him the brush off, because she belongs to Capt. Frisby.
35	* ReassignedToAntarctica: Why Captain Fisby is sent to Okinawa, after an unsuccessful Army career that included botching an unit's payroll in his last assignment.
36	* TVTelephoneEtiquette: The entirety of Purdy's dialogue when he gets news of the visiting Congressional delegation is "Who?...What?...When?...Oh!". Then he hangs up the phone.
37	* {{Yellowface}}: At least one can say that Brando delivers a charismatic performance as the smartest character in the movie, not a mincing stereotype like Creator/MickeyRooney in ''Film/BreakfastAtTiffanys.'' To Brando's credit, he was likely aware of the issues with his casting and did his best to give Sakini a sense of dignity. In going method for the role, Brando went out of the way to ''learn Japanese,'' with co-star Machiko Kyō coaching him.
38	* YourNormalIsOurTaboo: {{Discussed\|Trope}}. Sakini notes in his opening narration how nude statuary in Okinawa isn't socially acceptable, but men and women bathing together in public is.

Context Theatre / TheTeahouseOfTheAugustMoon