The Barbarian and the Geisha
“The geisha girl they sent to love and to destroy the barbarian from the west!”
1958 · 1 h 45 min
John HustonCast
John Wayne Eiko Ando 
Sam Jaffe 
Sō Yamamura Ryuzo Demura Kodayū Ichikawa
Credits
Written by: Charles Grayson
Plot
Townsend Harris is sent by President Pierce to open Japan to trade, and falls for a geisha.
Sinekatalog’s take
John Huston's historical drama, with John Wayne, is handsome but stiff, and the casting is odd.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.
Ratings
IMDb: 5.8 / 10 (2,444 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.
If you liked this
Picked by director, genre, era and shared cast. Titles only, no spoilers.
- Memoirs of a Geisha 2005 · Rob Marshall · IMDb 7.3 · Viewers also liked
- The African Queen 1951 · John Huston · IMDb 7.7 · Same director
- The Age of Innocence 1993 · Martin Scorsese · IMDb 7.2 · Viewers also liked
- Bhowani Junction 1956 · George Cukor · IMDb 6.4 · Same movement
- Pride and Prejudice 1940 · Robert Z. Leonard · IMDb 7.3 · Viewers also liked
- The Flame and the Arrow 1950 · Jacques Tourneur · IMDb 6.8 · Same movement