Temptation /誘惑 / Yuwaku (1957)

Obscure Japanese Film #26

Koreya Senda

In order to avoid preconceptions, I try to read as little as possible about a film prior to watching it, but I usually have a rough idea of the genre at least. However, in this case I was way off as I had expected Temptation to be a crime thriller, but it turned out to be a sentimental romantic comedy. I think the title had conjured up images of a femme fatale enticing some poor sap to his doom, but there is nothing of the kind to be found in Temptation, and even after watching it I’m far from sure of the reason for the title.

This Nikkatsu production provides a rare leading role on film for Koreya Senda, founder of the left-wing Haiyuza theatre company and mentor to Tatsuya Nakadai, no less. Despite being billed sixth (a reflection of his non-film-star status), the film revolves around his character: Shokichi Sugimoto, a rather vague 55-year-old widower who owns a clothing store in Ginza, where he lives with Hideko, his unashamedly materialist daughter. 

Sachiko Hidari

  

Hideko is played by top-billed Sachiko Hidari, best-known for later films such as The Insect Woman (1963) and Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (1972). In contrast to the serious actress she later became, the younger Hidari seen here is typical of her earlier screen persona: lithe, petite, cheerful and fast-talking. In real life, she was of a more sober temperament; a highly intelligent feminist, she later directed a film of her own, The Far Road (1977).

For some reason, her father decides to open a gallery above the store and launch it with a show organised by Hideko featuring the work of her avant-garde artist friends, an assortment of female ikebana artists and male painters. He thinks it might be about time that Hideko found a husband, while she is beginning to think her father should remarry. In reality, he is still moping about a lost love from 30 years ago; meanwhile, an unlikely romance develops between a gauche female shop assistant and one of Hideko’s bohemian friends, a brilliant but scruffy artist who has lice.

Also notable in the cast are Shoichi Ozawa (star of Imamura’s The Pornographers), who generates many of the laughs as a naïve shop assistant, and Izumi Ashikawa, the ‘Audrey Hepburn of Japan’ who turns up towards the end as the daughter of Sugimoto’s lost love.

Temptation is an odd little film – it’s difficult to see what the point of it all is, or who the intended audience could have been, and the beret-wearing artist types depicted in the film never quite convince. However, its origin as a just-published novel of the same title by Sei Ito, a modernist writer in vogue at the time, probably explains its reason for existence. In any case, director Ko Nakahira certainly keeps things moving along and throws every piece of quirkiness and slapstick he can at it. Inevitably, this approach is hit and miss, but the film is mostly quite charming and fun, although definitely the least impressive of the four I’ve seen by Nakahira (the others being Mikkai, The Hunter’s Diary and Crazed Fruit). 

Sofu Teshigahara

Ikebana fans should look out for a cameo by Sofu Teshigahara as himself; the founder of the Sogetsu school of ikebana and father of Woman of the Dunes director Hiroshi Teshigahara, he is also credited as a consultant on Temptation. Well-known avant-garde artists Taro Okamoto and Seiji Togo also appear as themselves. Considering all the avant-garde references throughout, the film features a surprisingly conventional score by the usually out-there Toshiro Mayuzumi. 

For a more detailed synopsis of Temptation, see Hayley Scanlon's review at Windows on Worlds.

 

The Most Valuable Wife / 最高殊勲夫人 / Saiko shukun fujin (1959)

Obscure Japanese Film #25

Ayako Wakao

The third of the 20 films director Yasuzo Masumura made with star Ayako Wakao is a light comedy featuring Wakao as the third daughter of widower Rintaro Nonomiya (Seiji Miyaguchi), who works as the head of the finance department in a company, but is soon to retire. The family used to be poor, but her two older sisters have helped to lift them out of poverty by both marrying sons of the company’s deceased founder. A third son, Saburo (Hiroshi Kawaguchi), remains single, but Kyoko’s eldest sister Momoko (Yatsuko Tan’ami) conspires to push them together, hoping this will lead to a third marriage and further deepen the ties between the two families. Instead, Saburo and Kyoko realise what Momoko is up to and vow never to get married. Kyoko takes a job as a secretary at the company in order to find an alternative husband and a number of male employees compete for her hand, while she also ends up doing a little matchmaking of her own. 

Rin Sugimori as the calligrapher

Unfortunately, the story is far from compelling as it’s obvious from the start that Kyoko and Saburo will end up marrying. Masumura works hard to maintain interest in the paper-thin material, throwing in some amusing comic vignettes featuring random characters such as a Jackson Pollock-inspired performance calligrapher and a schoolgirl singing a jazz number in a deep, masculine voice. However, despite his inventiveness, The Most Valuable Wife remains a well-made film of little consequence. 

Hiroshi Kawaguchi and Ayako Wakao

I’ve never understood the appeal of Hiroshi Kawaguchi, who always played men whom women find irresistible even though he seems to me entirely unprepossessing. However, he starred in 10 films for Masumura and five for Kon Ichikawa before quitting Daiei in 1962 to become a real estate developer. He later returned to acting sporadically and also presented a wildlife show on TV, during which one of his fingers was nearly bitten off by a piranha. He passed away from cancer in 1987 aged only 51. 

Eiji Funakoshi and Ayako Wakao

Playing the eldest of the three sons in an amusing comic performance is Eiji Funakoshi, who was also frequently employed by both Ichikawa and Masumura. He carved out something of a niche for himself playing philandering husbands who were inept in the workplace, as he does here, but is best-remembered for his atypical role starring in Ichikawa’s nihilistic World War 2 film Fires on the Plain.

 

Wakao's matchmaking between Katsuhiko Kobayashi and Kazuko Miyagawa

Although the film hardly provides Ayako Wakao with one of her finest roles, it’s certainly further testament to her versatility. Having watched her recently in Masumura’s far superior Irezumi, it’s hard to believe this is the same woman. But the collaboration between star and director was still in its infancy at this point, and Masumura had yet to cast her in a serious dramatic role.