Obscure Japanese Film #166
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| Isuzu Yamada |
This omnibus film comprised of three stories was an independent venture co-produced by two companies. One, Kindai Eiga Kyokai, was formed by director Kozaburo Yoshimura, screenwriter Kaneto Shindo and actor Taiji Tonoyama in 1950. The first episode is directed by Yoshimura, written by Shindo and features Tonoyama in a minor role as a bartender.
Taiji Tonoyama
The other company involved, Chuo Eiga, was established in 1952 by Akihiro Hoshino, who wanted to encourage cultural exchange between Japan and the Soviet Union and was responsible for distributing The Battleship Potemkin (1925) for the first time in Japan in 1955. Given these facts, it should be no surprise that episodes 2 and 3 are directed by Tadashi Imai and Satsuo Yamamoto respectively – both Communist Party members.
Shot in 10 days with cast and crew apparently all working for free, it’s a well-made film which packs so much into its scant 83-minutes that it’s not really possible to get bored. The individual stories are as follows:
Yoshiko Machida
Flower Girl
Michie (Nobuko Otowa) is a Ginza bar waitress who takes pity on Tamiko (Yoshiko Machida), a young girl out selling flowers in the rain one night. When tragedy strikes them both in similar ways, the two end up forming an unlikely friendship…
Nobuko Otowa and Takashi Kanda
Kyoko Kagawa
The Bride Who Jumped In
Factory worker Kono (Taketoshi Naito) is surprised to be woken up by his landlady (Toyo Takahashi) one morning and informed that he has a visitor who turns out to be Kuniko (Kyoko Kagawa), a young woman whom his family have arranged to be his wife without his knowledge…
Kyoko Kagawa and Taketoshi Naito
Isuzu Yamada
Only If You Love
Yaeko (Isuzu Yamada) is an ageing widow who works as a cleaner at the racetrack and has developed a stoop from her years of menial labour. Her son, Shigeru (Kei Taguchi), is in prison for clashing with police during a student protest, so Yaeko is left on her own to deal with an unhappy 27-year-old daughter, Toshiko (Hatae Kishi), whose marriage is on hold until Shigeru gets out, and her equally unhappy younger sister, Minako (Sanae Nakahara). One day, their uncle, Goro (So Yamamura), turns up and says that all Shigeru has to do to get released is express repentance for his actions…
Hatae Kishi, Sanae Nakahara and Isuzu Yamada
The first two stories are heart-warming enough, though slight, while Yamamoto and his screenwriter (and fellow communist) Yusaku Yamagata – who also wrote episode 2 – attempt something more ambitious in part 3. Unfortunately, it’s shameless propaganda in which the message is that it’s preferable to ruin the lives of those close to you than it is to be thought of as having betrayed your principles. Still, at least we get an excellent lead performance from Isuzu Yamada – I can’t think of another Japanese actress who went from being a leading lady to becoming such a versatile character actor – and a last-minute cameo from Yoshiko Kuga as Perfect Communist Girlfriend. The film was released in the Soviet Union in 1957.
Yoshiko Kuga
Thanks to A.K.
DVD at Amazon Japan (no English subtitles)
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