When Michael Turner hosted a screening of James Clavell's The Sweet and the Bitter in December of 2009, the Pacific Cinematheque provided the following summary of the film: "In 1962, the British novelist (Tai-Pan, Shōgun), screenwriter (The Fly, The Great Escape) and film director (To Sir, With Love) James Clavell came to Vancouver to make The Sweet and the Bitter. Little known today and rarely screened, this independent film, written, produced and directed by Clavell, was one of the first dramatic features to treat the subject of the internment of Japanese-Canadians during World War II - or, more specifically here, the aftermath of those events. The plot concerns a young Japanese woman who comes to Canada seeking revenge for the injustices perpetrated upon her father, a fisherman, during the war. Focusing her quest for vengeance on the wealthy businessman she holds responsible for her father's misfortune, she sets out to seduce the man's son. The Sweet and the Bitter was the first and only film produced by Vancouver-based Commonwealth Film Productions, an early effort to establish a viable commercial film industry in the city. Financial and legal difficulties forced Commonwealth out of business soon after, and held up the release of The Sweet and the Bitter for five years, until 1967." B&W, 16mm. 87 mins.