''The Wind Cannot Read'' is a 1958 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Ralph Thomas Ralph Philip Thomas MC (10 August 1915 – 17 March 2001) was an English film director. He is perhaps best remembered for directing the ''Doctor'' series of films. His brother, Gerald Thomas, was also a film director, probably best remembere ...

and starring Dirk Bogarde,

Yoko Tani was a French-born Japanese actress and nightclub entertainer. Early life Tani was born in Paris. Her birth name was ''Itani Yōko'' (猪谷洋子). She has occasionally been described as 'Eurasian', 'half French', 'half Japanese' and even, in on ...

, Ronald Lewis and John Fraser. It was based on the 1946 novel by Richard Mason, who also wrote the screenplay. Songwriter Peter Hart received the 1958

Ivor Novello award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been ...

for Best Song Musically and Lyrically for the title song, performed by

Vera Lynn Dame Vera Margaret Lynn (; 20 March 191718 June 2020) was an English singer and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were very popular during World War II. She is honorifically known as the " Forces' Sweetheart", having giv ...

. The title derives from a Japanese poem, and lines from the poem are prominently displayed (in English) in the movie. The same lines are on the tombstone of novelist/screenwriter Mason, who died in 1997.

Plot

The film takes place in Burma and India during World War II. A British officer falls in love with his Japanese instructor at a military language school. They start a romance, but she is regarded as the enemy and is not accepted by his countrymen. They marry in secret and plan on spending his two weeks' leave together. When one of the other officers is injured, he is sent into the field as an interrogator. Later he is captured by the Japanese army when he is patrolling with a brigadier and an Indian driver in a Japanese-controlled zone. He escapes and returns to his own lines, only to discover that his wife is suffering from a brain tumour. Although the doctor initially gives her good odds of surviving, she dies after an operation.

Cast

* Dirk Bogarde as Flight Lieutenant Michael Quinn *

as Aiko Suzuki ('Sabbi') * Ronald Lewis as Fenwick * John Fraser as Peter Munroe *

Anthony Bushell Anthony Arnatt Bushell (19 May 1904 – 2 April 1997) was an English film actor and director who appeared in more than 50 films between 1929 and 1961. He played Colonel Breen in the BBC serial ''Quatermass and the Pit'' (1958–59), and al ...

as Brigadier * Heihachirō Ōkawa as Lieutenant Nakamura (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: 陸軍中尉中村, ''Rikugun-Chūi Nakamura'') *

Marne Maitland James Marne Kumar Maitland (18 December 1914 – March 1992) was an Anglo-Indian character actor in films and television programmes. Biography Maitland was born in Calcutta, and educated at Bedales School before going up to Magdalene College, ...

as Bahadur *

Michael Medwin Michael Hugh Medwin, OBE (18 July 1923 – 26 February 2020) was an English actor and film producer. Life and career Medwin was born in London. He was educated at Canford School, Dorset, and the Institute Fischer, Montreux, Switzerland. He ...

as Officer Lamb *

Richard Leech Richard Leeper McClelland (24 November 1922 – 24 March 2004), known professionally as Richard Leech, was an Irish actor. Richard Leeper McClelland was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Isabella Frances (Leeper) and Herbert Saunderson McCl ...

as Hobson * Tony Wager as Moss * Tadashi Ikeda as Itsumi-san * Yôichi Matsue as Corporal Mori (

: 毛利伍長, ''Mōri Gochō'') *

Donald Pleasence Donald Henry Pleasence (; 5 October 1919 – 2 February 1995) was an English actor. He began his career on stage in the West End before transitioning into a screen career, where he played numerous supporting and character roles including RAF ...

as Doctor * Joy Michael as First nurse *

Avice Landone Avice Landone (1 September 191012 June 1976) was an English actress who appeared in British television and film. She was born in Quetta, British India, and made her screen debut in the 1948 film '' My Brother Jonathon''. From 1961 she co-starre ...

as Second nurse * Jasdev Singh Soin as Indian soldier

Production

In 1955 David Lean agreed to film Richard Mason's novel ''The Wind Cannot Read'', the story of a romance between a British officer and a self-exiled Japanese woman in India circa 1943, during World War II. Originally Lean considered making the lead character a Canadian and offered the part to

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-offi ...

. Lean also offered the role to

Kenneth More Kenneth Gilbert More, CBE (20 September 1914 – 12 July 1982) was an English film and stage actor. Initially achieving fame in the comedy '' Genevieve'' (1953), he appeared in many roles as a carefree, happy-go-lucky gent. Films from this per ...

, who was unsure about whether the public would accept him in the part and turned it down. It was a decision More later regarded as "the greatest mistake I ever made professionally". Lean had completed a script in collaboration with Mason and cast Keiko Kishi as the girl, but disagreed with

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)produced the film and the project fell through. Lean had already entered into discussions with

Sam Spiegel Samuel P. Spiegel (November 11, 1901December 31, 1985) was an American independent film producer born in the Galician area of Austria-Hungary. Financially responsible for some of the most critically acclaimed motion pictures of the 20th centur ...

, regarding a film version of

Pierre Boulle Pierre François Marie Louis Boulle (20 February 1912 – 30 January 1994) was a French novelist best known for two works, '' The Bridge over the River Kwai'' (1952) and ''Planet of the Apes'' (1963), that were both made into award-winning films. ...

's novel ''The Bridge on the River Kwai.'' After Korda's death in 1956, the rights to Mason's novel were sold to Rank Film Productions, who assigned the project to the team of Betty Box and

. Filming took place on location in India in early 1958, with Dirk Bogarde in the main role.''British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference''
by Sue Harper, Vincent Porter. Oxford University Press, 2003 p 53 Ralph Thomas later said he thought Sir John Davis of Rank "very bravely" authorised location-filming in India "because he trusted David Lean's judgement that it was a splendid book. It was a real three-handkerchief picture, which I thoroughly enjoyed making, and Dirk was very good in it."

Reception

The film was one of the most popular at the British box office in 1958. ''Kinematograph Weekly'' listed it as being "in the money" at the British box office in 1958.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wind Cannot Read, The 1958 films 1958 romantic drama films 1950s war drama films 1950s English-language films British war drama films British romantic drama films Films shot at Pinewood Studios Burma Campaign films Films based on British novels Films directed by Ralph Thomas Films scored by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino 1950s British films