Obscure Japanese Film #37
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| Hibari Misora |
Only after watching this and doing a little research did I discover that Feisty Edo Girl Nakanori-San is the third in the series of five (I think) ‘Beranmee’ films. The first of these appeared in 1959 and is best-known in English as The Prickly-Mouthed Geisha (‘prickly-mouthed’ being a fair translation of the Japanese ‘beranmee’), while the final entry was released in 1963 under the title Beranmee geisha to detchi shachou (‘The Prickly-Mouthed Geisha and the Apprentice President’). However, it seems to matter little that I missed the first two as all are separate stories.
The film is a vehicle for Hibari Misora, one of Japan’s most popular stars of all time, but who remains little-known abroad. Born in 1937 as Kazue Kato, she became a star in late childhood, when she was given the stage name ‘Hibari’, meaning ‘lark’ (as in the songbird) due to her natural singing talent. As an actress, her abilities were a little more limited, but this did not prevent her becoming a major movie star. The film in question was made at the height of her popularity, when she was churning out almost one film a month for Toei Studios.
Isao Yamagata
In Feisty Edo Girl Nakanori-San, Hibari stars as the daughter of a lumber company owner played by Isao Yamagata, probably best-known as Machiko Kyo’s kindly husband in Gate of Hell (1953), but later known for more villainous roles. Here, he is once more on the side of the angels and is also the best actor in the film. Hibari falls in love with the son of a rival company owner, a plot device harking back to Romeo and Juliet, which this movie explicitly references. The son is played by a gangly Ken Takakura, who stands a foot taller than Hibari and looks decidedly uncomfortable here before he had settled into the yakuza niche to which he was better suited. There are few surprises, although things become quite violent for such a piece of fluff, and basing it around the lumber industry certainly seems a novel choice. Otherwise, it’s business as usual, with the irrepressible Hibari bursting into song on several occasions – though I’m not sure I would call this a musical as there are no big Hollywood-style production numbers. Nevertheless, the film has its charms and anyone looking for light entertainment could do a lot worse.
Hibari with Ken Takakura
Director Masamitsu Igayama, a former assistant to Tomu Uchida, left the movie business shortly after this film and worked in television until his retirement in 1982. He passed away in 2001 at the ripe old age of 96.
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