Sayonara (1957)

This film is very kind to women. And the Japanese.
It is 1951, America is at war with Korea but for Lloyd Gruver, an ace flyer for the American Air Force, his air time is grounded, thanks to his shaky health. So he is taken to Japan, where they are still largely regarded as the enemy. Here he has some lame desk work. He believes, probably correctly, that he was moved here to be closer to the general's daughter and his fiance, Eileen Webster (Patricia Owens). However, their romance has long grown stale. Sure, she's beautiful, intelligent and has good breeding, everything he wants in a wife. But nothing specifically about her.
In addition to Lloyd being reassigned to Japan, one of his colleagues, Joe Kelly (Red Buttons, who would win an Oscar) is also there, but he is thrilled with the prospect as he had previously fallen in love with a Japanese woman, Katsumi (Miyoshi Umeki, who also won an Oscar for her role). They get married against everyone's wishes, the Japanese and the US army not to mention Lloyd himself. He can't believe that he would want to marry someone with slanted eyes. How sweet of him.
However, he would have the last laugh as he falls in love with a Japanese woman himself, a famous and celebrated dancer, Hana-ogi (Miiko Taka), who begins by being cool and aloof to him as he basically stalks her every day when she crosses the bridge from her performances to her dormitory where she lives with the rest of her troop.
Finally, Katsumi and Joe are able to successfully set the two of them up. Hana-ogi apologizes for her ingrained prejudice of Americans as they are the ones who dropped the bomb which killed her father. The two begin an illicit romance, hiding from people on both sides. Eileen doesn't mind, as she is the one who ended the relationship.
Then, tragedy strikes. Joe is transferred state side and he can't take his wife with him, despite all of Lloyd's pleading, never mind Katsumi being pregnant. They both kill themselves and poor Lloyd discovers the bodies along with his friend, Mike Bailey (James Garner, in an unwritten role).
He is devastated but what is worse is that his plan for marrying Hana-ogi has just shot up in flames. She is unable to marry him because her father sold her to the dance troop to save his other younger children and Lloyd doesn't take the news well. He's use to getting what he wants. But she's been transferred to another troop in Japan and he is going back to the states. She is devastated as for the first time in her life she had been thinking about marriage and her own children, but she doesn't want Lloyd to settle and though he was willing to resign as he can't bring her with him and find something else to do with his life. He, on the other hand, isn't thrilled but takes the transfer just as the law finally passes, which will allow service men to bring their wives home with them, just as should have always been the case. It came too late for Joe and Katsumi.
On his layover in Tokyo, he once again seeks out Hana-ogi and once again begs to her to toss away tradition and traditional thinking and marry him. They need to get the paperwork started right away. That's so hot. But she does agree, after he finally gives her a breather to collect her thoughts. She meets him outside and tells the reporters what her true hopes and dreams are. She delivers her speech brilliantly though she had never spoken publicly before. Lloyd lets her talk, simply telling the reporters a polite way to shove it. They leave with their arms linked.
Of course I have issues with the film. It doesn't show the Japanese in a very good light. After discovering the bodies, Mike and Lloyd are beaten up by a group of Japanese thugs. But at least it doesn't glorify or justify the bombs that the Americans dropped, though Lloyd did say that lots of people died on both sides. Which is the truth. Lloyd does say that he didn't drop the bomb personally.
Also a distressing scene is when Joe becomes furious at the pregnant Katsumi as she wants to get this slapstick surgery which will make her eyes look more American. He tells Hana-ogi to "tell this stupid dame I love her exactly how she is," talk about a lovely compliment. What Lloyd tells Hana-ogi about their mixed race children is also something nice hidden with an insult: "So our children will be half yellow, half white. They will also be half you and half me." But what is worse is the casting of Ricardo Montalban as a Japanese Kabuki actor. Thank goodness his role is small, mostly as a potential love interest for Eileen, but seriously, they couldn't get a Japanese actor for the role. Then again, Hollywood cast Emma Stone as a half-Japanese character in last year's Aloha, so some things never change.
Now, I truly feel that Taka should have been nominated and won the Oscar over Umeki, especially since this was her first film. Brando was the best, though he wasn't nearly as good as he was in On the Waterfront, and also, it is not attractive for someone to kiss you when you have a cigarette in your mouth.
Still, the mechanics mostly work as the set is excellent though the score could be pretty overwhelming at times. Still, it is a solid film and an important one. This is also one of the few films that, to me at least, cries for a sequel, one that addresses all the hatred heaped upon the happy couple once they arrive in the United States. Grade: B+