Pathé then had at its Francoeur studios a set decorator, a tiny Polish Jew, kept on despite his biblical age and advanced diabetes. Since we couldn’t in all decency condemn him to total silence, we found him a French teacher who made him learn and repeat, from morning to evening, his few remaining lines. This time I understood: our leading man hadn’t the slightest notion of the language he was supposed to speak “perfectly.” In a week’s time, we would have to rewrite the script completely to reduce his speaking part to a minimum. “I’d like to read you the script,” I began again. Alarmed, I turned to the producer who, under the table, nudged me encouragingly with his knee. Hayakawa?” I asked.Ī strange growl emerged from the Japanese actor’s impassive mask. “You can speak French with him,” the producer whispered to me as he gave the actor a hearty handshake.

To start off, we were going to lunch at Le Fouquet’s. I myself confidently awaited him in Paris. It was in three words: “ À la perfection.”ĭisembarking at Le Havre, Hayakawa had to face the usual pack of newspaper men and photographers. The answer came back forty-eight hours later. “Good question – the subject never came up.” The producer had cast Sessue Hayakawa in the lead.

Of all my films, the most international was no doubt Yoshiwara, adapted from a Maurice Dekobra novel by English and German screenwriters, directed by me, shot in Paris with two French-speaking Japanese stars. More on YOSHIWARA - Shadowplayer Phoebe Green has kindly translated the relevant section from Max Ophuls’ memoir, edited by his son Marcel, a book still infuriatingly unavailable in English.

Shadowplay 2021