The female oriental stars of Sayonara, Miko Taka and Miyoshi Umeki, team once again for a story dealing with the American occupation of Japan in Cry For Happy. At least the film is not as tragic for Miyoshi as Sayonara was. It's also not as good, but it's also a good deal lighter.
The American leads are Glenn Ford who was also in a film about the post war occupation in The Teahouse Of The August Moon and Donald O'Connor. Ford is a Navy CPO in charge of photographic unit and O'Connor is one of his new men, the others being James Shigeta and Chet Douglas. Through an incredible combination of circumstances the four of them wind up living in a geisha house that Taka runs. Ford during a moment of inter-service rival bragging, boasts publicly of sponsoring an orphanage and has to make good on that for Admiral Howard St. John and more important the Admiral's wife, Harriet MacGibbon. Believe it or not it all works out.
Cry For Happy is a little slow at times, but enough laughs are there for it to be enjoyable. Best scene in the film involves Miyoshi Umeki discouraging nosy reporter Joe Flynn from adopting one of the 'orphans' with her broken English. Red tape is red tape in any language and culture.
Next best scene is at the very end with Ford having to provide temporary headquarters for an influx of real orphans his new establishment is getting, but is not ready to receive yet. And we can't forget the film that was shot with Navy equipment lent on the sly by Ford to aspiring Japanese film producer Robert Kino. I guess you could call it a Sushi western. It gets audience approval, but not quite the way Kino was hoping for.
The team of George Marshall and Glenn Ford is not often discussed as a director/actor combination. But some very funny comedies were turned out be this pair. Cry For Happy will be enjoyed by Glenn Ford's still legion of fans.
