Escapade in Japan (1957 Arthur Lubin)

There is an argument that to the untrained ear, Japanese music sounds like cats being strangled. Make up your own mind. Pretty Technirama (i.e. another CinemaScope) footage of Japan could not save RKO, which shut down that year. Film is little more than travelogue with one note plot element of boy and Japanese friend fleeing from the police, who only want to reunite the little bastard with his parents. Seeing 1950s Kyoto, Japanese theatre, touristy sites etc is quite interesting, but not enough. Has its cute moments. Set-up is awkward and perfunctory - Japanese actors are altogether better than the Americans, with Theresa Wright given little to do but look fretful. Glossy tourist board type production (don't mention the war.... 'They don't teach Japanese in American schools...')

Of film buffs note that Clint Eastwood appears fleetingly. Max Steiner music, William Snyder photography.

Not my fault - BBC2 broadcast at Unearthly A.M. was in 16x9