''Three Stripes in the Sun'' is a 1955 American

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...

directed by Richard Murphy and starring

Aldo Ray Aldo Ray (born Aldo Da Re; September 25, 1926 – March 27, 1991) was an American actor of film and television. He began his career as a contract player for Columbia Studios before achieving stardom through his roles in '' The Marrying Kind ...

Philip Carey Philip Carey (born Eugene Joseph Carey, July 15, 1925February 6, 2009) was an American actor. Early life and education On July 15, 1925, Carey was born in Hackensack, New Jersey.Dick York Richard Allen York (September 4, 1928 – February 20, 1992) was an American radio, stage, film, and television actor. He was the first actor to play Darrin Stephens on the ABC fantasy sitcom ''Bewitched''. He played teacher Bertram Cates in the ...

. It is a story of an American sergeant stationed in Japan after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

who falls for a local girl.

Plot

Sgt. Hugh O'Reilly and his friend, Cpl. "Nebby" Muhllendorf, are assigned to peacetime

Osaka, Japan is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third most populous city in Ja ...

after the end of World War II. Still upset over his experiences at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

, O'Reilly unsuccessfully asks his colonel for a transfer. O'Reilly's prejudices continue to surface, particularly when his wallet is missing and presumed stolen. After he finds a Japanese man with it, O'Reilly intends to seek retribution until he learns that the man runs an orphanage and was simply returning a wallet that he found. O'Reilly and Nebby visit the orphanage and, moved by its impoverished conditions, donate money and food. O'Reilly also develops a romantic interest in a local girl, Yuko, but believes a future together would be difficult. He decides to break off contact with Yuko after the outbreak of conflict in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, but when he and Nebby are wounded and return to Japan, he and Yuko decide to try a life together in the United States.

Cast

as MSgt. Hugh O'Reilly *

as Cpl. Nebby Muhlendorf *

Chuck Connors Kevin Joseph Aloysius "Chuck" Connors (April 10, 1921 – November 10, 1992) was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. He is one of only 13 athletes in the history of American professional sports to have p ...

as Idaho Johnson * Camille Janclaire as Sister Genevieve * Hehachirô Ôkawa as Father Yoshida (as Heihachirô 'Henry' Ôkawa) * Tatsuo Saitô as Konoya *

Tamao Nakamura (born July 12, 1939 in Kyoto, Japan) is a Japanese actress. Her father is kabuki actor Nakamura Ganjirō II. She was scouted by director Teruo Ogiyama and made her film debut with ''Kageko to Yukie'' when she was a junior high school student. A ...

as Satsumi * Mitsuko Kimura as Yuko

References

External links

* *
O'Reilly's Orphanage'
(Review of this film) at

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

1955 films 1950s war drama films Columbia Pictures films Films scored by George Duning Films set in Osaka American war drama films Pacific War films Japan in non-Japanese culture 1950s English-language films 1950s American films American black-and-white films {{WWII-drama-film-stub