<i>Die Tochter des Samurai</i> (1936)

GERMAN FILM INSTITUTE <br>The Cinema of Crisis: German Film 1928-1936

Directed and written by Arnold Fanck. With Setsuko Hara, Ruth Eweler, Sessue Hayakawa, and Isamu Kosugi.

The first of two German-Japanese co-productions Die Tochter des Samurai traces the hero Teruo’s adoption and subsequent rejection of Western democratic ideals. He returns home from a stay in Germany filled with awe for its accomplishments. His fiancé is waiting for him, but he has fallen in love with a German woman he met on the ship. When the fiancé attempts to kill herself, her father sits Teruo down and brings him back to his senses by listing the accomplishments of Japan. Originally intended to be co-directed by Fanck and Japanese director Mansuko Itami, the film’s production was wrought with conflict between the two directors. Itami was alarmed by the raw political intent of the film and by what he considered were the many misinterpretations of Japanese life. Fanck, however, insisted that this first German-Japanese film collaboration had to have a clear, pro-Nazi message. It soon became obvious that the project would collapse if a compromise was not worked out. It was — each director released his own version of the picture.
[Source: mori.art.museum, filmportal.de]

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