Horizontal Lieutenant, The (1962)

Hapless Second Lieutenant Merle Wye (Jim Hutton) of US Army Intelligence is dismayed that he has not seen any action during World War II. He imagines himself as a suave undercover agent, worming secrets out of exotic female spies, but is instead confined to a desk job in Honolulu.

Merle is finally assigned a new posting – his first field job – on the South Pacific island of Rotohan. The Americans had, in fact, liberated the island from the Japanese eight months ago and it was now a rather quiet, idyllic spot.

All the Japanese soldiers on the island had surrendered at the time – all except Kobayashi (Yuki Shimoda), a Japanese soldier who is unarmed and considered harmless.

Merle’s job is to locate and bring in Kobayashi, solely because he has been pilfering luxury goods from the US army commissary and officers’ quarters.

Merle and his Nisei interpreter (and lothario) Sgt. Roy Tada (Yoshio Yoda) team up with Lt. Billy Monk (Jack Carter) to flush out the wily thief hiding in the hills. In the meantime, Merle is also trying to score with Lt. Molly Blue (Paula Prentiss), a pretty nurse he knew before the war.

Second Lt. Merle Wye
Jim Hutton
Lt. Molly Blue
Paula Prentiss
Lt. Billy Monk
Jack Carter
Cmdr. Jeremiah Hammerslag
Jim Backus
Col. Charles Korotny
Charles McGraw
Akiko
Miyoshi Umeki
Yeoman Leo Buckles
Marty Ingels
Sgt. Jess Yomura
Lloyd Kino
Michido
Linda Wong
Sgt. Roy Tada
Yoshio Yoda
Kobayashi
Yuki Shimoda

Director
Richard Thorpe