In 2001, I was writing a paper on Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), and decided to find out ifany American films had tried, as I feel Oshima did, to understand the horror ofPacific War from both the Japanese and the Allied perspectives. Among the predictable John Wayne war films like TheyWere Expendable (John Ford, 1945) and Backto Bataan (Edward Dmytyk, 1945), I discovered the remarkable 1950 film Three Came Home (Jean Negulesco, 1950).
The story is an adaptation of Agnes Newton Keith’s memoir Three Came Home (1948) about herexperiences as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II in North Borneo(today called Sabah) and Sarawak. AnAmerican writer married to British forester Harry Keith, Agnes made a name forherself shortly before the war with her bestselling memoir Land Below Wind (1939) which painted a idyllic portrait of herearly married life, the land and the people of Sandakan – then the capital ofBritish North Borneo.
The film begins with the growing unease of the Britishinhabitants of Sandakan as they hear radio reports about the escalating war. After the attack on Pearl Harborand the fall of Singapore, many husbands begin sending their wives and childrenback home. Agnes; however, refuses to leave herhusband’s side. When the Japanese invadeBritish North Borneo, Agnes, Harry, and their young son George becomeprisoners-of-war.
Agnes and George are separated fromHarry and imprisoned first on Berhala Island and then they are shipped to theBau Lintang camp near Kuching. The womenand children do not receive any special treatment and are forced to live on theedge of starvation in primitive conditions. A Hollywood film of that era could not really capture the horror of the livingconditions in the camp (lack of clothes and diapers, lack of hygiene and cleanwater, widespread disease) as Agnes does so movingly in her book, but the film doesnot sugar coat the situation either. It is arare look at the Pacific War from the perspective of an American mother. The film was also shot on location as much as possible which gives it an air of authenticity.
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| Husbands and wives separated by a trench. |
Although Nunnally Johnson’s screenplay embellishes some parts of the story (a massacreof horny Australians, the stereotyping of the brutal Nekata as a hulking oaf) and leaves out some important aspects (the complexityof Anges’ relationship with Lieutenant Colonel Tatsuji Suga, how she made toys for her son, how she buriednotes that she dug up later in order to keep a record of her ordeal), on thewhole the film captures the essence of Agnes Newton Keith’s wartimeexperience. She went through hell onearth in that prisoner-of-war camp, but emerged from the war with a surprising lack ofbitterness. Somehow, despite having had a miscarriage brought on by the stress of detainment and witnessing/experiencing torture and other cruel behaviour from the Japanese soldiers, Agnes did not learnto hate the Japanese. She learned tohate war and what war does to humanity. The film retains her sense of balance by showing the small gestures of good will made by some Japanese soldiers (such as the doctor secretly giving Agnes medicine) in contrast to the cruelty and inhumanity of others (Nekata, the anonymous soldier who assaults her).
The casting of Three Came Home wasreally key to making this work for Jean Negulesco. ClaudetteColbert (It Happened One Night, The Gilded Lily) plays Agnes – ideal casting because the women were about the sameage and Colbert had a great range as an actress. Colbertwas nearing the end of her peak as an actress as there were (and still are) fewgood roles written for older women in Hollywood. She unfortunately was injured during the Three Came Home shoot and lost out onthe role of Margo Channing in All AboutEve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950) – a role which Mankiewicz had written withher in mind.
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| Col. Suga weeps - a man broken by the horror of war |
The real success of the film hinges onthe casting of Sessue Hayakawa (The Cheat, The Bridge on the River Kwai) asCol. Suga. Hayakawa had been a major Hollywoodstar during the silent era, but his star had waned with the coming of sound andhe was stuck in France for the duration of the war under the German Occupation having gone there to star in French films directed by Max Ophüls, Marcel L'Herbier, and others. Humphrey Bogart’s production company tracked him down to have him staras Baron Kimura in Tokyo Joe(1949). As a seasoned actor, Hayakawa bringssense of humanity to the role of Suga – without giving this depth of character to the enemy, Negulescowould not have been able to really capture the core message of Agnes’ memoir:
“If there are tears shed here, theyare for the death of good feeling. Ifthere is horror, it is for those who speak indifferently of ‘the next war’. If there is hate, it is for hatefulqualities, not nations. If there islove, it is because this alone kept me alive and sane.” (Three Came Home, p.9)
