The Barbarian And The Geisha

Truth may be stranger than fiction, but as the screenplay for THE BARBARIAN AND THE GEISHA demonstrated, it can also be duller. President Franklin Pierce sends US Consul Townsend Harris (John Wayne) to Japan to negotiate a series of treaties, both diplomatic and commercial. The Japanese have no interest in talking to the man, and he is treated rudely. He is told to leave but refuses and moves into a rat-infested house with three Chinese servants and Jaffe, his interpreter. The governor, Yamamura, introduces Ando into the Harris residence as a servant, but she is really there to spy on the Americans. She soon learns that Wayne is a good man and she falls in love wit...