I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

tried it again recently on tcm; so bad couldn't stay but dipped in again later and still terrible: story of recent post-war GIs goofed by locals is hackneyed; so is script; it tries to be funny but isn't really, and then loses it trying to show the perils of occupation- and how human the Japanese really are; yeah, if you want to forget the little tidbits like officers practicing beheadings of GI prisoners at the stern of a ship; great funny stuff for the movie? oh, not quite; and movie-wise it is almost a stage play filmed, incredibly static, phony backdrops, just dreadful; so lets say you tuned in just for brando- normally a good enough reason; holy cow- between the makeup, done as much as they could native Japanese, the put on accent, afraid it's akin to jolsen in blackface

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.

I love Marlon Brando and I love comedy movies. The comedy in this movie has not aged well at all, in fact I would call it "tiring" in most scenes. The constant antics of the villagers actually get irritating as early as when the Captain is trying to get his jeep packed so he can leave the base. It didn't get better from there. Brando does a nice job playing the Japanese interpreter however; but since he's Brando that's to be expected. It was also interesting seeing a young Harry Morgan playing a military man decades before he did so on MASH. I'd avoid this one. I picked it up for $3 from Big Lots and I feel like I vastly overpaid.What a disappointment.

I saw this film when I was 17years old.Brando was King,Paul Ford was Colonel Hall in Sgt Bilko and I was at the Savoy,Brighton with Vivienne Wyman whose dad had a paper shop near the youth club.She had beautiful wavy black hair,a flawless complexion and I was the envy of the boys in the "Coffee Lounge".Life could not get any better.In retrospect not such an unlikely possibility.The war against Japan had only been over 12 years and the "Americanisation" of the rest of the world was on schedule . American largesse had kept Britain afloat both during and after the war;it was by now widespread throughout the "conquered" countries. The Japanese people had been redeemed through defeat and the Americans were prepared to be magnanimous in victory.Military Officers became advisors and democracy was shipped out in bulk whether it was wanted or not.No reasonable person could doubt their good intentions,but imposing an alien culture on the indigenous one is not a seamless process......and the "conquered" people may not be as conquered as you think..... That,in a nutshell,is the premise of "The Teahouse of the August Moon". The Americans poke gentle fun at themselves,Paul Ford does his good-natured bumbler schtick and Marlon Brando has great fun with those actor's friends the funny accent and make - up.There is some cod Japanese philosophy and the average American's ignorance of the rest of the world is lampooned. It was a time when in England we still spoke about "good Germans" (Rommel was a "good German" - Heydrich was not).By the same token,Sakini was a "good" Japanese man.We could not understand the Bushido code,therefore it was "bad".Sakini was cute looking and smiled a lot.You couldn't imagine him starving British P.O.W.s to death. At 17 I thought Brando's portrayal of a Japanese interpreter was brilliant and hilarious.Nearly fifty years later and I can't think of any other European/American actor who could have pulled it off. He was a young man at the height of his powers;rather like a juggler throwing more and more clubs into the air,there seemed to be nothing he could not do. Glenn Ford gets a rare chance to do comedy and reminds us of his versatility.Used to playing men with a past,here he plays a man without much future,at least not in the U.S.Army. Henry Morgan as usual makes every second of his screen time count.A major part in the long-running "M.A.S.H." was just reward for years of playing cops and noncoms in movies. It is pointless to call "The Teahouse of the August Moon" racist because the concept of racism as it exists now did not exist then.And by extension of course Marlon Brando must be racist - a quite ridiculous assertion. It is probably not a film for today;it may well be rediscovered in a more gentle age when the thought police are no longer trying to apply 21st century sensibilities on fifty year old movies. Strangely enough Vivienne didn't find it very funny - perhaps it was a bloke thing.I never got a date with her again.