Tough-guy director John Huston teamed up with John Wayne for the first and last time to make this historical drama about Townsend Harris, America's first consul to Japan, and his diplomatic victory over the isolationist shoguns. Huston cast Wayne because he would physically and metaphorically tower over the Japanese, while Wayne was attracted to the role because it got him out of westerns and showed America's historical influence over their wartime enemy. Wayne and Huston loathed each other from day one, however, and the movie was an unmitigated disaster - from the indulgent casting of Huston's Oriental girlfriend, Eiko Ando, to a riot caused when a special-effects fire nearly wrecked a fishing village.

Townsend Harris is sent by President Pierce to Japan to serve as the first U.S. Consul-General to that country. Harris discovers enormous hostility to foreigners, as well as the love of a young geisha.