Obviously based on the exploits of Prince Charles when he was in the Royal Navy.This is a pleasant sightseeing tour of Japan with a slight romantic plot and a rather silly sub plot involving attempted assassination. It was good to see such stalwart character actors as Peter Jones and Charles Grey.Lewis Gilbert had a long and successful career but this was not one of his better films.
12 Reviews
Inconsequential story about a forbidden romance - untaxing and easy-to-watch, but never truly absorbing.
barnabyrudge30 April 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Seven Nights In Japan is an old-fashioned romantic drama with a lot of James Bond alumni aboard as cast and crew. The screenwriter is Christopher Wood (The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker); the director is Lewis Gilbert (You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker); and the cast includes Charles Gray (You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever), James Villiers (For Your Eyes Only) and Ann Lonnberg (Moonraker). The film couldn't, however, be further from a Bond film in style - it's all very genteel and leisurely-paced, with an emphasis on the romantic dilemma at its core. A few sequences involving political assassins are thrown in to pad the running time, but these aspects of the film merely come across as half-hearted and rather silly.
Royal tearaway Prince George (Michael York) arrives in Japan aboard a Royal Navy ship. He is a sailor with diplomatic duties and responsibilities to attend to, but has a history of neglecting such frivolities when the mood takes him. Faced with a long and tedious shore leave at the residence of the British Ambassador, Henry Hollander (Charles Gray), George decides he cannot bear such a stay. He sneaks out of the Ambassador's house at night and explore the delights of Tokyo alone, with civilian clothes and dark glasses to keep his identity secret. One evening, he meets a pretty tour guide named Sumi (Hidemi Aoki) and is immediately smitten with her. He returns to meet her again the following night, and soon a bond of love and desire forms between them. Sumi is not aware of George's true identity... together they head off into rural Japan, spending more time together and falling deeper in love as they do so. George begins to have serious doubts about returning to his ship, and contemplates throwing away all his royal privileges for a simple life with this humble Japanese tour guide. Meanwhile, a team of political assassins plot to locate the AWOL Prince and eliminate him.
The notion of a Royal craving a simpler life and having a wild fling - including (shock, horror) sex outside of marriage with a Japanese civilian, no less - was presumably a controversial theme when the film was released in 1976. However, the film doesn't really follow through on its controversial qualities, and instead contents itself with being a standard yarn of forbidden romance. York is fairly wooden as the Prince, though Aoki is sweetly vulnerable as his love interest. The scenes featuring Gray and Villiers - fretting hopelessly about whether the Prince will return in time for the ship's departure - provide some welcome comic relief. The film is beautifully shot by Henri Decae and has a lovely score by the under-used David Hentschel, but the drama is rarely convincing and the ultimate dilemma about which choice York will make - remain a Royal, or forsake it all in the name of love? - never really materialises into anything gripping. You should really care about what happens to these people, but you don't... it simply isn't particularly involving. And, as mentioned earlier, the assassination subplot is a laughable waste of time. Seven Nights is OK for what it is, a light and harmless romantic melodrama... but deeply affecting and heart-wrenching cinema it ain't.
Royal tearaway Prince George (Michael York) arrives in Japan aboard a Royal Navy ship. He is a sailor with diplomatic duties and responsibilities to attend to, but has a history of neglecting such frivolities when the mood takes him. Faced with a long and tedious shore leave at the residence of the British Ambassador, Henry Hollander (Charles Gray), George decides he cannot bear such a stay. He sneaks out of the Ambassador's house at night and explore the delights of Tokyo alone, with civilian clothes and dark glasses to keep his identity secret. One evening, he meets a pretty tour guide named Sumi (Hidemi Aoki) and is immediately smitten with her. He returns to meet her again the following night, and soon a bond of love and desire forms between them. Sumi is not aware of George's true identity... together they head off into rural Japan, spending more time together and falling deeper in love as they do so. George begins to have serious doubts about returning to his ship, and contemplates throwing away all his royal privileges for a simple life with this humble Japanese tour guide. Meanwhile, a team of political assassins plot to locate the AWOL Prince and eliminate him.
The notion of a Royal craving a simpler life and having a wild fling - including (shock, horror) sex outside of marriage with a Japanese civilian, no less - was presumably a controversial theme when the film was released in 1976. However, the film doesn't really follow through on its controversial qualities, and instead contents itself with being a standard yarn of forbidden romance. York is fairly wooden as the Prince, though Aoki is sweetly vulnerable as his love interest. The scenes featuring Gray and Villiers - fretting hopelessly about whether the Prince will return in time for the ship's departure - provide some welcome comic relief. The film is beautifully shot by Henri Decae and has a lovely score by the under-used David Hentschel, but the drama is rarely convincing and the ultimate dilemma about which choice York will make - remain a Royal, or forsake it all in the name of love? - never really materialises into anything gripping. You should really care about what happens to these people, but you don't... it simply isn't particularly involving. And, as mentioned earlier, the assassination subplot is a laughable waste of time. Seven Nights is OK for what it is, a light and harmless romantic melodrama... but deeply affecting and heart-wrenching cinema it ain't.
There's a good film in there somewhere, flawed but still enjoyable
rwmj3 April 2020
Warning: Spoilers
George is a naval officer who has seven nights of shore leave in Japan. Unfortunately for him his other job is heir to the throne of England so he must spend it at the British Ambassador and making dull factory visits. He decides one night to escape over the fence and enjoy Tokyo, whereupon through an entirely believable sequence of mishaps he ends up on a tour bus and falls in love with one of the guides and they have the titular seven nights to enjoy Japan and each other before he must return to his duties.
This could have been a good - not great - romantic comedy, if the director had cut the script down to the essentials, slowed things down, and left the ludicrous and senseless subplot involving the yakuza on the cutting-room floor. (No real surprise that the director and the producer both worked on James Bond films.)
Despite its many flaws it's an enjoyable and very watchable travelogue of 1970s Japan, and I have to admit I was crying like a baby by the end.
Unlike other reviewers I think Michael York played the plummy, stuck up and unworldly royal very well. His love interest, Sumi, is sweet, but that's about all. As an actress Hidemi Aoki would go on to be in almost nothing else.
If you come across this film it's worth watching and at least never dull.
This could have been a good - not great - romantic comedy, if the director had cut the script down to the essentials, slowed things down, and left the ludicrous and senseless subplot involving the yakuza on the cutting-room floor. (No real surprise that the director and the producer both worked on James Bond films.)
Despite its many flaws it's an enjoyable and very watchable travelogue of 1970s Japan, and I have to admit I was crying like a baby by the end.
Unlike other reviewers I think Michael York played the plummy, stuck up and unworldly royal very well. His love interest, Sumi, is sweet, but that's about all. As an actress Hidemi Aoki would go on to be in almost nothing else.
If you come across this film it's worth watching and at least never dull.
Worthwhile viewing.
mcwill-213 March 2000
Allegedly based on another Prince, "Seven Nights in Japan", the story of Prince George should not disappoint fans of romantic cinema. The actress that plays the Princes love interest (Sumi) is sweet and beautiful and Michael York is in his prime. Highlights include Sumi singing Japanese love songs as a bus tour guide and the beautiful country locales. A gentle, elegant film.
Unacknowledged (and Inferior) Remake of "Roman Holiday"
JamesHitchcock2 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
"Seven Nights in Japan" is an unacknowledged remake of "Roman Holiday", with a change of geographical location and the sexes of the leading characters reversed. The main male character is Prince George, the fictitious heir to the British throne. (References to his father suggest that the story takes place in an alternate history in which Britain had a King rather than a Queen during the 1970s). While on an official visit to Japan, George gets bored with the programme of visits laid on for him and goes AWOL from the British Embassy. He meets and has a brief affair with a beautiful Japanese girl, Sumi, who is working as a bus tour guide. A complicating factor is that for some reason George has fallen foul of a group of Japanese gangsters who want him dead.
"Roman Holiday" is often regarded as a classic of the cinema. Despite the similarity in theme, "Seven Nights in Japan" is largely forgotten today. There are two main reasons for this. The earlier film had the advantages of a fine script from Dalton Trumbo and two stellar performances from Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. "Seven Nights in Japan", by contrast, has a very thin storyline. The "gangster" subplot was presumably added to try and make the story more substantial, but this part of the film is often confusing. The relevant scenes are all played out in Japanese without subtitles, so English-speakers never get to understand why the villains want George dead. Are they fanatical patriots bent on avenging Japan's wartime defeat by Britain and her allies? Or is their murderous fury connected with George's failure to pay his drinks bill in a nightclub? (It would appear that certain elements in Japan still regard this as a capital offence). At one point one of the villains has George in the sights of his rifle but is prevented from firing the fatal shot by the timely arrival of the police. The police, however, make no attempt to warn George of the danger he is in, something the scriptwriters never bother to explain.
It is also never explained why, except possibly the gangsters, nobody in Japan recognises George for who he is. The heir to the British throne would, after all, be one of the most recognisable people in the world, with his picture plastered over every newspaper and magazine in any country he visits. Even Sumi does not cotton on to his true identity until very late in the day.
The other reason why this film will never be another "Roman Holiday" is the acting. Michael York seems too casual and laid-back. The script tells us that George falls deeply in love with Sumi, but York's demeanour seems to suggest that this is no more than a brief fling, with no emotions involved on his part other than sexual desire. Apart from her beauty, Hidemi Aoki manages to convey Sumi's essential innocence and sweetness of character, but her command of English is not good, and she can be difficult to understand. (I was not surprised to learn that this was to be her only English-language film).
Unlike the characters played by Peck and Hepburn, George and Sumi go to bed together, an illustration of the way in which cinematic attitudes to sex had changed between 1953 and 1976. The film caused some mild controversy in the seventies, but not because of its sexual content per se. There is some brief nudity, but nothing too explicit compared to what you could see in some British films of the period. The problem seems to have been that in 1976 we were not used to having the sex lives of our Royals- even fictitious Royals- held up to scrutiny. The inter-racial aspect may also have played a part in this controversy- I doubt if there would have been quite so much fuss had George met and bedded, say, a French girl on a trip to Paris.
Today both the film and the controversy it caused look very dated. Ever since the early nineties, when the rifts in the marriage of Charles and Diana became a running story in every tabloid throughout the world, we have had to accept that the sex lives of our Royal Family are now public property. The marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has finally put paid to the idea that British Royals must be Caucasians, an idea which today seems absurdly reactionary but which in the seventies would have enjoyed widespread if tacit support.
I saw this curious seventies period piece when it was recently shown on a specialist movie channel. If the idea was to pay tribute to its director Lewis Gilbert, who died last year, the station could have found many much better examples of his work than this one. 4/10
"Roman Holiday" is often regarded as a classic of the cinema. Despite the similarity in theme, "Seven Nights in Japan" is largely forgotten today. There are two main reasons for this. The earlier film had the advantages of a fine script from Dalton Trumbo and two stellar performances from Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. "Seven Nights in Japan", by contrast, has a very thin storyline. The "gangster" subplot was presumably added to try and make the story more substantial, but this part of the film is often confusing. The relevant scenes are all played out in Japanese without subtitles, so English-speakers never get to understand why the villains want George dead. Are they fanatical patriots bent on avenging Japan's wartime defeat by Britain and her allies? Or is their murderous fury connected with George's failure to pay his drinks bill in a nightclub? (It would appear that certain elements in Japan still regard this as a capital offence). At one point one of the villains has George in the sights of his rifle but is prevented from firing the fatal shot by the timely arrival of the police. The police, however, make no attempt to warn George of the danger he is in, something the scriptwriters never bother to explain.
It is also never explained why, except possibly the gangsters, nobody in Japan recognises George for who he is. The heir to the British throne would, after all, be one of the most recognisable people in the world, with his picture plastered over every newspaper and magazine in any country he visits. Even Sumi does not cotton on to his true identity until very late in the day.
The other reason why this film will never be another "Roman Holiday" is the acting. Michael York seems too casual and laid-back. The script tells us that George falls deeply in love with Sumi, but York's demeanour seems to suggest that this is no more than a brief fling, with no emotions involved on his part other than sexual desire. Apart from her beauty, Hidemi Aoki manages to convey Sumi's essential innocence and sweetness of character, but her command of English is not good, and she can be difficult to understand. (I was not surprised to learn that this was to be her only English-language film).
Unlike the characters played by Peck and Hepburn, George and Sumi go to bed together, an illustration of the way in which cinematic attitudes to sex had changed between 1953 and 1976. The film caused some mild controversy in the seventies, but not because of its sexual content per se. There is some brief nudity, but nothing too explicit compared to what you could see in some British films of the period. The problem seems to have been that in 1976 we were not used to having the sex lives of our Royals- even fictitious Royals- held up to scrutiny. The inter-racial aspect may also have played a part in this controversy- I doubt if there would have been quite so much fuss had George met and bedded, say, a French girl on a trip to Paris.
Today both the film and the controversy it caused look very dated. Ever since the early nineties, when the rifts in the marriage of Charles and Diana became a running story in every tabloid throughout the world, we have had to accept that the sex lives of our Royal Family are now public property. The marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has finally put paid to the idea that British Royals must be Caucasians, an idea which today seems absurdly reactionary but which in the seventies would have enjoyed widespread if tacit support.
I saw this curious seventies period piece when it was recently shown on a specialist movie channel. If the idea was to pay tribute to its director Lewis Gilbert, who died last year, the station could have found many much better examples of his work than this one. 4/10
Prince in Japan
safenoe3 June 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I don't mean the pop legend Prince, but a fictional UK Prince finds himself in Japan for seven nights, and falls in love with a Japanese woman who captures his heart. It's a forbidden love, and the tabloids would go nuts for sure. But still, Michael York is dignified in his role.
This should be rebooted in a short-run series that can run for seven episodes, one for each night. I nominate acclaimed British actor Danny Dyer to play the Prince.
This should be rebooted in a short-run series that can run for seven episodes, one for each night. I nominate acclaimed British actor Danny Dyer to play the Prince.
A new Godzilla attacks Tokyo movie would have been more believable than this.
mark.waltz5 September 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I usually enjoy Michael York films, but this one was absurdly pandering and cloying from the very beginning, complete ridiculous and irritating from the start. He's Prince George, the British heir to the throne (name changed from the real prince of course, not that anybody didn't know who he was supposed to be), on a holiday to Japan to meet his intended (Anne Lonnberg) he doesn't love (and vice versa), and escapes from his servants so he can explore the city on his own.
Nobody recognizes him because he's wearing sunglasses, and after he escapes from a shady nightclub (dragged in against his will with no objection, and unable to pay his bill), he hops onto a tour bus where he charms singing tour guide Hidemi Aoki with his inability to pay as well, claiming to be a sailor. Romance ensues over English tea (served by her), and the only hence you got anybody recognizes him comes from two American tourists on the bus. Charming George is a polite scalawag, and after a while, York's charm can't help this ridiculous story move forward.
This apparently had a very minimal release and I can see why. It is idiotic that anybody in this film would not know who the most popular bachelor prince in the world is, as his character would certainly have his face plastered everywhere. The fact that they could even get away with making such a ridiculously old-fashioned film in the 70's is head shaking. It perpetuates practically every stereotype I've ever seen of the Japanese culture, and presents the tourist spots in a not so favorable light.
This was referred to as a modern day "Roman Holiday", but even though that film had its implausibilities, the way Audrey Hepburn was able to disguise her identity in that film was at least understandable. York continues to be in tailored designer suits throughout, and he doesn't get mobbed. It's basically the plot of a 1920's operetta set in the 1890's, and after a while, I started wanting the characters to start singing Romberg or Friml. Not even laugh worthy unintentionally. Just painful to try to get through. Only saved from a bomb rating thanks to the exotic location footage.
Nobody recognizes him because he's wearing sunglasses, and after he escapes from a shady nightclub (dragged in against his will with no objection, and unable to pay his bill), he hops onto a tour bus where he charms singing tour guide Hidemi Aoki with his inability to pay as well, claiming to be a sailor. Romance ensues over English tea (served by her), and the only hence you got anybody recognizes him comes from two American tourists on the bus. Charming George is a polite scalawag, and after a while, York's charm can't help this ridiculous story move forward.
This apparently had a very minimal release and I can see why. It is idiotic that anybody in this film would not know who the most popular bachelor prince in the world is, as his character would certainly have his face plastered everywhere. The fact that they could even get away with making such a ridiculously old-fashioned film in the 70's is head shaking. It perpetuates practically every stereotype I've ever seen of the Japanese culture, and presents the tourist spots in a not so favorable light.
This was referred to as a modern day "Roman Holiday", but even though that film had its implausibilities, the way Audrey Hepburn was able to disguise her identity in that film was at least understandable. York continues to be in tailored designer suits throughout, and he doesn't get mobbed. It's basically the plot of a 1920's operetta set in the 1890's, and after a while, I started wanting the characters to start singing Romberg or Friml. Not even laugh worthy unintentionally. Just painful to try to get through. Only saved from a bomb rating thanks to the exotic location footage.
One Night Would Be One Too Many !
Onerous1222 December 2018
Seven Nights in Japan... the boredom was unbearable after the first night.
I had to give this film 1 star... not because it is utterly dreadful ( which it is), but because it has an unrealistically high rating from other reviewers who are either being extremely kind, they were extras in the film, or Michael York has numerous troll accounts..!?
No spoilers in my review, if there were, it would be like admitting there is a plot worth spoiling... and there is'nt !
A pleasant little film
sharptongue5 May 2000
The main story, of a British prince running away and, by accident, becoming involved with a lovely and naive Japanese tour guide, is enchanting and lovely. There is a subplot concerning a bunch of loony patriots bent on assassinating the prince. This should have added an element of excitement and tension. Instead, it looks like what it is - a lame add-on to pad the film out to feature length. This subplot adds absolutely nothing to the film, and only properly intersects to story at one point. Pity. But don't let this put you off. This film is a sheer delight for any man who finds Asian women lovely, as well as anyone who is a sucker for romance and the lure of the exotic. Warmly recommended.
Pretty good
zudasiscariat24 July 2010
I Happened to see this movie in my class 3.I watched this movie in an open air theater at pune air force station. A very remarkable movie that even today i could remember some glimpses of it. A good movie to remember. The Hero is a British Prince who escapes and lands in japan meets a guide and falls in love with her.The song the heroine sings in the bus is very very good.Our hero daily gets into the bus to see her finally persuades her to love him. The seventh day he is traced and is taken back. The love dies.The Actors have done a pretty good job and I would suggest every one has to keep a collection in their movie library.
This unsophisticated, sweetly glutinous tale is pure narrative candyfloss!
Weirdling_Wolf18 November 2020
The beloved and greatly admired British director, Lewis 'Alfie' Gilbert's manifestly curious, somewhat obscure, demonstratively middle of the road, doomed 'odd-couple' romance, 'Seven Nights in Japan' (1976) even with all its torpid trivialities, remains quite a distracting, perhaps even genuinely touching, albeit terrifically twee love story about a bored, dashingly debonair Prince (Michael York) and his erstwhile beau, a disarmingly pretty tour guide (Hidemi Ioki) he meets while gleefully shirking his seemingly unexciting Royal duties; and, quite frankly, as cute, 'meet-cutes' go, it's pretty goddamn cute! While blatantly old fashioned in style and tone, almost absurdly sentimental, Lewis Gilbert's seemingly forgotten, 'Seven Nights in Japan' nonetheless has some considerable cinematic merit as a richly fascinating view/travelogue of 1970s Japan, with legendary French DP, Henri Decaë's tastefully roving camera giving us poor proles a rather Princely view of all the myriad exquisite, breathtakingly beautiful vistas that our handsome pair of magisterially mismatched movie lovers enjoy during their playful, picture book, romantic journey towards the inevitably soft-focus consummation! This unsophisticated, sweetly glutinous tale is pure narrative candyfloss, but not cloyingly so, and I was more than happy to wallow unthinkingly in its stupefying, reality-numbing, excessively sugary sentimentality until its somewhat underwhelming conclusion! I should also like to note that the film's acclaimed cinematographer, Henri Decaë, also shot Truffaut's landmark, '400 Blows' and Jean-Pierre Melville's hard-boiled Gallic-crime classic, 'Le Samouraï'!
An update of The Student Prince
overseer-39 September 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Lovely romantic British film that is far more like an update of Sigmund Romberg's The Student Prince than the American film Roman Holiday. It's too bad this is only available on Region 2 PAL DVD more Americans can enjoy it. Just seeing Michael York in his hay day is worth the price of admission, and next the lovely scenes of Japan. A gentle and worthwhile film, even if a bit risqué.
I liked the music too and the scenes with the little Japanese children. As with The Student Prince the ending is pretty predictable, the prince in love with the Japanese tour guide will probably have to give her up at the end, and marry an English maiden hand picked for him instead.
However stick it out because life is a journey, not just a destination.
I liked the music too and the scenes with the little Japanese children. As with The Student Prince the ending is pretty predictable, the prince in love with the Japanese tour guide will probably have to give her up at the end, and marry an English maiden hand picked for him instead.
However stick it out because life is a journey, not just a destination.
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