Bridge to the Sun

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Bridge to the Sun
Directed by	Etienne Périer
Produced by	Jacques Bar
Written by	Gwendolen Terasaki Charles Kaufman (1904-1991)
Starring	Carroll Baker James Shigeta
Music by	Georges Auric
Release date(s)	1961
Running time	113 min.
Country	France / U.S.A.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Bridge to the Sun is a 1961 film, directed by Etienne Périer, starring Carroll Baker, James Shigeta, James Yagi and Tetzuro Tamba. It is based on the 1957 autobiography Bridge To The Sun by Gwendolen Terasaki, which detailed events in Gwen's life and marriage.

The story presents the struggles of Gwen Harold (an American from Tennessee), who in 1931 married Hidenari "Terry" Terasaki, a member of the Japanese Foreign Office. He was First Secretary at the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. when Pearl Harbor was bombed; he was one of the staff who helped translate the Japanese declaration of war and delivered it (late) to the U.S. government. Gwen – along with their daughter Mariko – went with him when he was forced into internment with American civilians of Japanese ancestry, and then when he was forced to leave the U.S. and return to Japan, where they lived in the war years and American occupation. After the war ended, Terry became an advisor to the Emperor, and was the official liaison between the Palace and General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Allied Commander. (The movie ends here.)

Mariko and her mother left Japan in 1949 so Mariko could attend college in Tennessee. Terry died in 1951 in Japan; he was 50 years old. (The autobiography ends here.)