The Big Wave (film)

The Big Wave ^[a] is a 1961 drama film based on the 1948 novel by Pearl S. Buck. The film was directed and produced by Tad Danielewski from a screenplay co-written with Buck, and stars Sessue Hayakawa, Mickey Curtis, Koji Shitara, and Hiroyuki Ota. The story centers on two boys, Yukio (played by Ota and Curtis) and Toru (Shitara and Ichizo Itami), growing up in a coastal village that is often threatened by natural disasters.

After working together on a 1956 television adaptation of The Big Wave for NBC, Buck and Danielewski formed the independent production company Stratton Productions. The film adaptation began development in early 1960, with Buck visiting Japan in May for the initial meeting. During pre-production, Japanese co-producer Toho appointed a Japanese co-director, who ultimately left due to conflicts with Danielewski. Principal photography lasted from September to November 1960, on location in Japan. It became a pioneering American-Japanese co-production and the film debut of both Buck and Danielewski.

The Big Wave was screened in Hirosaki and Niigata in 1961, and released in the United States on April 29, 1962. It garnered mostly favorable reviews from Western critics, with praise for its acting, story, special effects, and cinematography, but criticism for the slow pacing. A lack of existing contemporary documentation has made its box office results, as well as screening locations and dates in Japan, unknown. The film has since become largely unavailable to the general public. A print owned by the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute was screened in Unzen, Nagasaki on October 29, 2005, but has since been disposed of. The Library of Congress owns the only known remaining print of the film.^[1]

Yukio, a farmer, and Toru, a fisher, are two young friends who live in a coastal village on a Japanese island. One day, they travel to the beach and meet a young ama named Haruko, who gifts them an abalone and shows them her diving skills. Yukio's sister, Setsu, watches them, deciding she has a liking for Toru and wants to become an ama to impress him like Haruko.^[1]

On the village's annual shark hunting day, Toru, his father, and most of the villagers prepare for their trip, but are interrupted by the village leader, known as the "Old Gentleman", who warns them of a tsunami that he predicts will destroy the village, as it happened thirty years ago on the same day, and he urges everyone to flee to the hills. The villagers disregard the Old Gentleman's claims and continue with their daily practices. That night, while Toru is staying at Yukio's house on a farm on the outskirts of the village, the nearby volcano erupts, resulting in a massive wave destroying the village and killing almost everyone in it, including Toru's family. Toru witnesses the entire tsunami and faints, devastated by the loss of his parents. The wealthy Old Gentleman offers to adopt Toru, but Toru instead decides to live with Yukio's family (who live in poverty).^[1]

A decade later, Toru is adopted by Yukio's parents, and they live at their house with Setsu, who still has a crush on Toru. He remains audacious and has been saving money to buy a boat and receives an offer to purchase a boat from Haruko, who also has a crush on him. One day, Yukio and Toru go shark hunting with Setsu and Haruko; the two girls get into a fight over who can be in a relationship with Toru. The two boys ultimately get involved. After Toru throws Haruko aside, Yukio becomes enraged and assaults Toru. The fight concludes when Yukio reveals he loves Haruko, and Turo says he wants Setsu; the girls agree to marry them respectively.

Toru and Setsu return to the now-rebuilt village and talk about their plans to get married and go fishing, to which the Old Gentleman overhears. The elder resents the ocean since his son was killed while fishing three decades prior, and instead offers the couple the largest farm in the area, adding that he would not warn them of any more tsunamis if they refuse. Nonetheless, they refuse, but suggest he should continue using his wisdom for good and still warn them anyway, to which he agrees.^[2]

While working at NBC in the mid-1950s,^[4] Tad Danielewski suggested to author Pearl S. Buck a televised adaptation of her 1948 novel The Big Wave, with Buck writing the script.^[5] Her script was ultimately adapted for an episode of the anthology television series The Alcoa Hour.^[6] Shot in color^[5] under the direction of Norman Felton, the episode starred Rip Torn and Robert Morse as the two Japanese village boys, and Hume Cronyn as the Wise Gentleman.^[6] It aired on NBC in September 1956, to acclaim from New York-based critics at the time, with The New York Times highlighting Buck's script.^[1] Buck said she was "only moderately pleased" with the episode itself, noting her resentment towards how it featured white actors playing Asian characters.^[5] Danielewski was also disappointed that he did not end up directing the adaptation of The Big Wave,^[5] but later worked with Buck once again by directing an adaptation of Buck's book The Enemy as an episode of Robert Montgomery Presents,^[4] which starred Shirley Yamaguchi.^[5] Following the episode's success, Buck and Danielewski became close friends.^[4]

In 1957,^[7][8] Buck and Danielewski founded the independent production company Stratton Productions, which they named after Stratton Mountain.^[5] The company initially worked on stage productions before moving on to films. Danielewski proposed adapting The Big Wave into a film in 1959.^[8] Buck, who served as the co-writer and executive producer,^[9] insisted on filming The Big Wave in Japan with a Japanese cast to authentically reflect the story's setting and aimed to foster U.S.-Japan cultural understanding through its production.^[10] She indicated that the decision to make the film in Japan was made in April 1960.^[11] Development of the film was first disclosed in the May 4, 1960 issue of Variety.^[9] On May 11, the Motion Picture Exhibitor reported that Allied Artists Pictures president Steve Broidy revealed that The Big Wave was reportedly set to be filmed in color and CinemaScope and they would acquire the film for release.^[12] Buck visited Tokyo on May 24 and held the first meeting for the film's production there; the Associated Press noted that it was conveniently the same day as a tsunami resulting from the 1960 Valdivia earthquake hit Northern Japan.^[13][14] She traveled back to the United States that June after being informed that her husband, Richard John Walsh, had died during her absence, but returned to Japan to complete negotiations shortly thereafter.^[9] The film ultimately became Danielewski's feature directorial debut,^[15] and Buck's film debut.^[9]

The book, of course, had to be put into new form. The Big Wave is a simple story but its subject is huge. It deals with life and death and life again through a handful of human beings in a remote fishing village on the southern tip of the lovely island of Kyushu, in the south of Japan. The book has always had a vigorous life of its own. It has won some awards in its field, it has been translated into many languages, but never into the strange and wonderful language of the motion picture. To use that language was in itself adventure, not words now, but human beings, moving, talking, dying with courage, living and loving with even greater courage. I am accustomed to the usual arts. I have made myself familiar with canvas and brush, with clay and stone, with instruments of music, but the motion picture is different from all these. Yet it, too, is a great art. Even when it is desecrated by cheap people and cheap material, the medium is inspiring in its potential.

— Pearl S. Buck, A Bridge for Passing (1962)^[16]

The script of The Big Wave, co-written by Buck and Danielewski, was predominantly faithful to the novel. The pair expanded largely on the dialogue between the two protagonists Yukio and Toru, who in the original novel were named Kino and Jiya respectively. Setsu was, in the novel, depicted as more mischievous than she is portrayed as emotionally fragile in the film. The film's opening centers on ama divers, as Buck felt this would emphasize their importance in the Japanese coastal community; she had previously made no mention whatsoever of ama in the novel. A Japanese assistant who helped make the film's underwater footage was outraged with how the ama were initially portrayed in Buck's script, calling it "sexist". After threatening to quit if it was not revised, he was eventually allowed to rewrite a scene featuring the ama himself.^[1]

Buck and Danielewski, representing Stratton Productions, reached an agreement with the Japanese company Toho. The deal allowed Allied Artists to own the film's distribution rights in all regions except Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, which were given to Toho in exchange for providing special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya and four actors.^[9] Buck explained why Toho hired all the Japanese cast and crew for her and Danielewski:

Toho said they would give us full cooperation 'if we would behave like Japanese', which we did. By that they meant that we would pay Japanese prices and not upset the local wage scale. We didn't want to upset conditions here. If a Japanese company came to the United States it should conform to our standards."^[17]

Around 200 people auditioned for the thirteen main roles in the film.^[17] The American crew were intent on finding Japanese actors who could speak English as they believed this would make the film more universally appealing.^[8] Danielewski believed that actors who often appeared in Japanese musical comedies were the best for the roles in the film as they had already been familiarize with Tin Pan Alley and trained to sing in English occasionally. He reportedly had to teach some of the Japanese cast the distinction between "l" and "r" for the film.^[17]

A press conference was held in Tokyo in late May 1960 to disclose pre-production details on the film; Buck and a Toho executive were among those in attendance.^[18] Casting negotiations had only begun a few weeks prior, and none had been finalized before the start of the conference. However, word soon reached Buck and the others that Sessue Hayakawa, at the time the most famous Japanese actor in the Western world, had just become the first to fully secure a role in the film, and they went forth to inform the press as the conclusion of the conference.^[3] His wife, Tsuru Aoki, was also set to have a role, as reported in August 1960.^[9][b] Hayakawa had been working in Hollywood and Japan for decades and likely considered his appearance in The Big Wave as fulfilling his dream of starring in a co-production between the two countries.^[1]

All the adult Japanese cast were well-known in Japan, except Reiko Higa, who Buck said was "chosen especially for the ferocious abalone diving girl".^[19] Higa previously appeared in the American film Joe Butterfly (1957).^[20] Setsu was originally set to be played by Kyoko Takahashi, an actress who had worked for Toho's rivaling film company Toei, according to Japanese outlets.^[21] However, she was ultimately replaced by Rumiko Sasa from Toho, leaving Takahashi and the Japanese media discouraged.^[9][21] Variety attributed the casting change to Takahashi possibly experiencing contractual obligations.^[21]

While the Japanese production manager was helping find cast members, Buck, Danielewski, and their assistants went location scouting around Japan. They intended to find a location close to Tokyo as they wanted to remain close to the studio, focused mostly on finding an active volcano and landslides.^[22] In May 1960,^[23] they traveled to the Japanese island of Izu Ōshima, which Buck found was an easily accessible travel by boat that usually would only take a few hours to reach, and was abroad with fishing villages making it an ideal location for them.^[22] Unzen, where Buck had visted during her youth, was also decided to use as a filming location.^[24] By late August, the scouting team, without Buck, had found additional locations for the film such as a beach, farm, and the village's houses.^[25]

During location scouting, Buck realized the film's tsunami scene was beyond her team's level of expertise and could only be achieved through special effects, which she knew very little about. To her relief, she was soon informed that Toho had what was considered the best special effects team in the world, led by Tsuburaya. Soon after being assigned to the project, Tsuburaya met Buck and the additional co-producers in an office and presented his sketches of the tsunami. Buck described the sketches as "startlingly accurate water colors of the rising horizon, the onrushing wave, and the towering crash of the crest." During the meeting, Tsuburaya also announced plans to recreate the fishing village depicted in miniature form, which he would achieve by taking his cameraman along with him and photographing "everything" for reference.^[26]

Towards the end of pre-production, Toho appointed a Japanese director to co-direct the film with Danielewski.^[28] During a meeting with the famed Japanese director (unspecified in Buck's accounts), who was aided by an interpreter, Buck, Danielewski, Curtis, and Itami began discussing a scene Danielewski wanted Curtis and Itami to improvise. Upon Danielewski telling the Japanese director about how he wanted the scene to play out, the Japanese director began writing on paper how he would like the scene to be and present it to Danielewski and Buck. Danielewski was frustrated as he did not want written instructions for Curtis and Itami for the particular scene, and the two actors ultimately sided with him on the matter.^[29] Thereafter, Danielewski warned that he would quit directing and return to New York if the Japanese director was not removed, to Buck's shock.^[30] The interpreter informed Danielewski that the Japanese director is a well-regarded man locally, and disrespecting him could have dire consequences.^[31] Buck apologized to the director and interpreter, stating that "If we had just gone on location, it would have been worse", to which the director agreed and expressed compassion.^[32] After the dispute, the Japanese filmmaker resigned from working on the film.^[33]

The cast and central crew members met together at the Imperial Hotel on September 8, 1960. The Japan Times reported that the attendance of Curtis, Sasa, Higa, and composer Toshiro Mayuzumi hereby disclosed their involvement in the film, and that it would be shoot in Nagasaki.^[34]

Principal photography commenced on September 15, 1960, in Nagasaki Prefecture.^[35][36] Since Buck's story was inspired by the 1792 Unzen landslide and tsunami,^[1] the film adaptation was mostly filmed on the island of Kyushu^[37] around Mount Unzen,^[1] including the town of Obama (now part of Unzen City)^[1][38] and another formally known as Kitsu, which Buck identified as the fishing village that was entirely swept away by the 1792 tsunami.^[39][40] Ichio Yamazaki served as cinematographer, having previously worked on the Toho production The Hidden Fortress (1958).

The film's production in Japan garnered significant media attention, partly due to Buck's popularity there. Locals warmly welcomed the American crew during filming in Japanese towns, where they were closely observed with keen interest. To achieve authenticity, most interior scenes were filmed in the actual homes of generous Obama residents rather than on sets. Additionally, footage was captured in real Japanese fishing villages, with some residents participating as extras.^[1] Unzen's Chijiwa Beach was used for several sequences.^[8]

Weather conditions resulted in several delays, leaving the villagers and crew frustrated. During a twelve-hour day on location at a farmhouse, most of which the crew had waited for the rain to end in order to shoot there, Yamazaki fell onto some rocks at the base of a paddy field towards the end of filming and had to be hospitalized.^[41] His doctor reported that he had not fractured any bones, but put Yamazaki's right arm in a sling.^[41] However, Yamazaki refused to remain at the hospital, and went back to the hotel with Buck and the other crew members shortly thereafter due to his determination to continue filming.^[41] Other issues that occured during photography at the farm include the crew having to simulate rain using a bamboo with holes which they tipped water into due to a sudden change in wheater,^[42] a duck brought in to be Setsu's pet as per the script being larger than expected, and a rampant dog chancing chickens disrupting filming,^[43][44]

Filming concluded in late November.^[c]

The film's special effects were directed by Eiji Tsuburaya.^[38] While the crew was filming in Obama, Tsuburaya was staging the tsunami scene at Toho Studios in Tokyo. Buck stated that "twice he had come to Obama to consult and to take hundreds of pictures of Kitsu and the empty beach beyond. We knew that we were in safe hands, the tidal wave would be perfect, but we could not see it until we returned to the city. Ours was the task of creating the approach to the wave, and the recovery from it."^[46]

Tsuburaya's effects were the final section of the film to be completed. In A Bridge for Passing, Buck described the last day of filming: "The famous special-effects artist was waiting for me, debonair in a new light suit and hat and with a cane. He had the confident air of one who knows that he has done a triumphantly good job, and after a survey of the scene I agreed with him. In a space as vast as Madison Square Garden in New York, which is the biggest place I can think of at the moment, he had reconstructed Kitsu, the mountains and the sea. The houses were three feet high, each in perfect miniature, and everything else was in proportion. A river ran outside the studio and the rushing water for the tidal wave would be released into the studio by great sluices along one side. I looked into the houses, I climbed the little mountain, I marveled at the exactitude of the beach, even to the rocks where in reality I had so often taken shelter. The set was not yet ready for the tidal wave. That I was to see later on the screen in all its power and terror. I had seen everything else, however, and I said farewell, gave thanks, and went away."^[47]

Mayuzumi volunteered to write the score, after meeting Buck and gifting her a copy of his 1958 symphony titled Nirvana.^[48] He told Buck that he envisioned providing a score that sounded "really romantic, not Wagnerian romantic, strong and delicate together, with contemporary Oriental philosophy. "^[49] After writing the film's score, Mayuzumi was set to travel to New York and write music for the New York City Ballet Orchestra.^[49] Ultimately, Mayuzumi was allegedly not in Japan at the time of post-production, and the majority of the score was composed by Tōru Takemitsu and Riichirō Manabe, according to the latter.^[50] The score is, however, credited to Mayuzumi, with Hiroshi Yoshizawa conducting it.^[51]

A song was included in the film to reflect its focus on youth, at Mayuzumi's request.^[52] Intending it to be "like the sunrise, young and fresh and full of hope",^[52] he wanted to compose it and have Buck write the lyrics, but Buck declined.^[52] The song, titled "Be Ready at Dawn", ultimately featured lyrics written by Danielewski,^[51] and was sung by Curtis.^[1]

During post-production, a third of the film's audio was re-recorded under Danielewski's supervision.^[17] Editor Lester A. Sansom of Allied Artists was involved in post-production.^[9] Two edits of the film were created, with the original having a runtime of 98 minutes while the American version ran for 73 minutes.^[53][54]

The Big Wave was screened at Hirosaki's National Theatre and Niigata's Toho Theater in 1961.^[1] The May 1961 issue of Consumer Bulletin indicated that the film was also screened in the United States that year, with one critic giving it a "B" rating (suggesting they did not directly recommend or condemned the film) while another two rated it "C" (suggesting the reviewers did not recommend it).^[55] It was later given a wide release in the U.S. on April 29, 1962,^[9][51] to positive reviews from critics.^[56][57] Variety reported that the film grossed roughly $15,000 at the Metropolitan Theatre in Boston during a week in May 1962,^[58] US$7,500 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit during a week in July,^[59] $4,000 at the Lafayette Theatre in Buffalo during a week in August,^[60] and $8,000 at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco during a week in September.^[61]

A Motion Picture Exhibitor reviewer highlighted the "shark kill sequence", Hayakawa's performance, and Tsuburaya's miniature work, but felt the film only appeals to art house audiences. The critic also praised the editing, noting that much had been cut for its release.^[62] The French-language Canadian publication Mediafilm gave the film a positive review, praising the acting, cinematography, first half of the film, and special effects.^[63]

From 1964 to 1977, the film was occasionally shown on television in the United States. It was featured in Steven H. Scheuer's book Movies on TV, where he gave the film two and a half stars, stating that its plot was "slow moving", but praised the acting.^[64] Leonard Maltin gave the film one and a half stars and also noted the film's slowly pacing.^[65][66]

The film is now largely unavailable to the general public and believed by some in Japan to have become lost.^[1] It was screened in Unzen, Nagasaki, Japan at Unzen Memorial Hall on October 29, 2005.^[38] The print shown there was owned by the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, but has since been disposed of.^[1] The Moving Image Section of the Library of Congress owns the only known remaining print of the film, which they have preserved and can be viewed only within the library.^[1]

The Big Wave became a pioneering cinematic co-production between the United States and Japan; Buck claimed it was notable as the first film with an American production company working entirely in Japan.^[10] However, two other U.S.-Japan co-productions also featuring Tetsu Nakamura among the cast were produced in the 1950s, Tokyo File 212 (1951) and The Manster (1959), predated the film.^[67] Following The Big Wave was Frank Sinatra's None but the Brave (1965), also co-produced by Toho, starring Nakamura, and featuring special effects by Tsuburaya. The Big Wave is considered culturally and historically significant, but how widespread its social impact was at the time remains unknown.^[1]

• Hischak, Thomas S. (2014). Literature on Stage and Screen: 525 Works and Their Adaptations. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-786-49279-4 – via Google Books.
• Buck, Pearl S. (1962). A Bridge for Passing. John Day Company.. Republished 2013 as ISBN 9781480421240.
• Conn, Peter (1996). Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56080-2.
• Takeuchi, Hiroshi; Yamamoto, Shingo, eds. (May 7, 2001). 円谷英二の映像世界 [Eiji Tsuburaya's Visual World] (in Japanese) (2nd ed.). Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha (published July 11, 2001). ISBN 4-40839474-2.
• "Pearl Buck Film Begins". Los Angeles Mirror. Los Angeles. September 17, 1960. p. 20. Retrieved March 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
• "The Big Wave". Battle Creek Enquirer. Battle Creek, Michigan. November 25, 1960. p. 11. Retrieved March 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
• "The Big Wave". Deseret News. Salt Lake City, Utah. December 16, 1960. p. 26. Retrieved March 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
• "Pearl Buck In Tokyo For Film". The Leaf-Chronicle. Clarksville, Tennessee. May 4, 1960. p. 4. Retrieved April 3, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
• Sherk, Warren (1992). Pearl S. Buck: Good Earth Mother. Drift Creek Press. ISBN 9780962644139.

• The Big Wave at IMDb