M.R. Dowsing's Blog

Obscure Japanese Film #288

Koji Osawa

The Meiji era, c. early 1890s. Jiro (Koji Osawa*) is a boy of around8 who has been lovingly raised by wet nurse turned foster motherOhama (Yuko Mochizuki), but now it’s time to go back to his familyhome and live with his real mother, Otami (Ranko Hanai), and hisfather, Shunsuke (Ichiro Ryuzaki). Unhappy about this as well as theobsession with status and correct etiquette common among suchwell-off samurai families in decline, Jiro takes to moping, and,while his father is patient and kindly, Otami is less so. Jiro missesOhama and takes a long time to accept Otami, and it’s only when shefalls ill from tuberculosis and he begins looking after her that the twobecome close. After she dies, his father finds a new wife in Oyoshi(Michiyo Kogure), whom Jiro is now expected to call ‘mother’ –it’s no wonder the poor kid’s confused...

Yuko Mochizuki

This Shintohoproduction is quite similar in terms of story to thepreviously-reviewed Shirobamba (1962). However, it was basedon the early parts of an autobiographical novel by Kojin Shimomura,part one of which was serialised in 1941 and quickly turned into afilm by director Koji Shima. Further parts appeared over the years,culminating in a fifth part published in 1954. Shimomura had beenplanning to continue the story further, but died in April 1955. Thisfilm was released around six months later, so his death may well havebeen the catalyst which led writer-director Hiroshi Shimizu to remakeit, although the fact that the childhood theme was close toShimizu’s heart would likely have been another motivating factor.

Michiyo Kogure

Typically forShimizu, it’s not a star-led picture despite the presence ofMichiyo Kogure, who appears only in the last 20 minutes, and there’salso a great deal of location work. Though the outlook of the film isvery conservative, it’s beautifully made and Shimizu mostlyprevents the sentimentality from becoming cloying, but he’s nothelped by the choral music, which has not dated well at all, and,while Ranko Hanai’s deathbed scene is too drawn out, the acting isnicely understated all round (perhaps a reflection of Shimizu's opinion that 'actors are just talking props'). What impresses the most, though, isShimizu’s technique – the way the tracking shots are co-ordinatedwith the complex blocking of the actors, such as when the childrenplay ‘it’ in the house, is quite remarkable.

Ranko Hanai

The assistantdirector was none other than Teruo Ishii, whose own directorialcareer would go in an entirely different direction.

The story was remadeas a two-parter by Masao Nozaki in 1960 and again by TokihisaMorikawa in 1987.

*This child actorhas also been credited as Koji Ozawa, Yukihiko Osawa and YukihiroOsawa in English – I’m unsure which reading is correct.

Thanks to A.K.

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Obscure Japanese Film #287

Hiroyuki Nagato

When Yasuo (Pigs and Battleships star Hiroyuki Nagato), anapparently naive student, allows himself to be dragged into a bar byYuki (Sanae Nakahara), a young woman who accosts him on the street,he’s easily persuaded to treat her and her friends to cocktails.Predictably, when the bill comes it’s higher than expected and he’sunable to pay, but he’s allowed to go after leaving his watch withthe yakuza who run the place; they’re members of the Hanayama gang.We then discover that Yasuo is actually a young con artist who sellsfake Rolexes and that his older brother, Goro (Ryoji Hayama), is amember of a rival yakuza gang, the Noda-gumi.

Ryoji Hayama

When the Hanayamagang catch up with Yasuo and take him prisoner, Goro intercedes andgets him released. Yasuo then abducts Yuki, intending to rape her inrevenge, but when the hotel is raided by the cops before he can doso, they escape together and hide out in the carriage of a stationarygoods train, where she gives herself to him willingly after he slapsher a couple of times. Then they fall in love, but, like Romeo andJuliet, it’s not long before their rival gangs are at war. Can theself-sacrificing Goro help the young couple escape this life of crimebefore it’s too late?

Nagato with Sanae Nakahara

Set in Tokyo’sIkebukuro district, this Nikkatsu production was based on a story by‘Masaharu Kawase’, a pseudonym of Masaharu Segawa, a youngdirector who was then under contract to Toei but had previously beenan assistant to Yutaka Abe, who directed it. Segawa became best-knownfor comedies, but later made Four Sisters, while Abe was a64-year-old veteran famous for having worked in Hollywood in the1920s and brought some of its style back to Japan before building ahighly successful post-war career largely on literary adaptations. Bythis point, he was regarded as old-fashioned – perhaps not unfairlyas he was responsible for films like Confession – so hiscareer was in decline and he had to take whatever directing work hecould. This yakuza genre piece is by no means typical of his work,then, and was presumably a studio assignment intended to cash in on the increasing popularity of this type of material at the time. However,it speaks to Abe’s adaptability that he clearly had notrouble with the new emphasis on sex and violence and there’s nosense that this is the work of an old fuddy-duddy. It didn’t helphim, though – after three more films for Nikkatsu (the latter twoof which were very minor B-movies), he reportedly quit when they cuthis pay and it seems that he received no further offers of work fromany studio.

Nobuo Kaneko

The screenplay wasco-written by prolific Nikkatsu contract hack Iwao (aka Gan) Yamazakitogether with Takashi Nomura, who went on to become a director andmade A Colt is My Passport (1967). It’s stylishly shot bycinematographer Yusuichiro Yamazaki, who also did Shunkinmonogatari (1954) and the score by Riichiro Manabe is classierthan expected for this type of fare. Still, the formulaic andunoriginal story together with the regrettable inclusion of therape-leads-to-love cliché prevent this from being anything specialeven if it is well made and very watchable.

Also notable in thecast are Yoko Minamida as a widowed florist who provides the loveinterest for Goro, plus Nobuo Kaneko and Hideaki Nitani as the rivalgang leaders.

A note on the title:

The title doesn’ttranslate easily into English, but the film is sometimes listed asThe Law’s Bloody Wounds, which seems a reasonable attempt,although I’m not sure that was ever an official release title. Atleast it’s better than Tarnished Rule, which I’ve alsoseen it called. On some Japanese sites, the English title is listedas The Ogre in Mt. Oe, but that’s clearly notright!

Watched with dodgysubtitles.

Trailer on YouTube

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Obscure Japanese Film #286

Ichiro Sugai

Misako Watanabe

Eikichi (Ichiro Sugai) is a widowed 55-year-old car salesman with twoadult children: Katsuko (Misako Watanabe), a bar hostess whosometimes sleeps with her customers, and Jiro (Asahi Kobayashi), astudent who seems to have dropped out, works part-time at a car washand plays billiards for high stakes when he has the cash. Eikichi hasshacked up with Yurie (Toshiko Yamane), who has a cheap eateryironically named the ‘Peaceful Oasis Diner’. However, nobodyseems to actually eat there, only to drink, and it’s patronisedmainly by a former salesman turned chronic alcoholic (Jun Hamamura)and assorted flies.

[image error] Sugai, Toshiko Yamane and Ko Nishimura

Eikichi is having arun of bad luck at work, partly because he keeps getting undercut byruthless rival salesman Nakagawa (Ko Nishimura), who has also taken aliking to Yurie. When Nakagawa tempts Eikichi and his friend Frank(Taiji Tonoyama) into a dangerous criminal scheme for some supposedlyeasy money, more than one person ends up dead…

Yamane, Sugai and Taiji Tonoyama

The title of thisNikkatsu production might lead you to expect a whodunit but, writtenas an original screenplay by leftist Kaneto Shindo, the answer to thetitular question is presumably supposed to be ‘society’.Unusually, Shindo places the focus largely on middle-aged failureEikichi rather than his troubled offspring. The 50-year-old IchiroSugai suits this part very well (it was likely tailor-made) and givesa fine performance in what was a rare leading role for him.Apparently, he had first come to prominence playing Inspector Javertin a now lost film version of Les Miserables directed by TomuUchida in 1931. He went on to become a favourite not only of Shindo,but also of Mizoguchi, Kurosawa, Kozaburo Yoshimura and Kon Ichikawaand appeared in over 300 films, even directing two himself, beforehis passing in 1973.

Sugai with Toshiko Yamane

The film wasdirected by Ko Nakahira*, best-known for Crazed Fruit (1956).With his customary flair and economy, he paints a vivid picture of acutthroat post-war world in which people are desperate enough to doalmost anything to make a few yen and American culture has beenunquestioningly embraced, along with all the emphasis on materialismand capitalism that goes with it. It’s significant that the filmopens with a driver’s POV shot of a dashboard bearing the legend‘Cadillac’; yet when we see the driver’s hand turn on theradio, it’s not American rock and roll or jazz we hear, it’s amelancholy theme provided by the film’s composer, Akira Ifukube, ofGodzilla fame. This is the first indication that this will bea film that does not play out along familiar lines.

Jun Hamamura with fly

There’s someeffective if not especially subtle symbolism involving spiders andflies, while performances are solid all round, although Jun Hamamurais given a little too much license to scene-steal and be weird. Andthat’s not the only element which doesn’t always work – Sugai’sdrunk scene is over the top and a billiards scene, though cleverlyshot and edited, goes on too long – but there are some great,unexpected moments along the way that make this one well worthwatching, and it’s stylishly shot by Shinsaku Himeda, who wouldlater win awards for his work with Shohei Imamura.

*IMDb lists Shindoas co-director, but Japanese sites do not.

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Misako Watanabe

Obscure Japanese Film #285

Sumiko Hidaka

Post-warOsaka. After a prostitute commits suicide by throwing herself infront of a train, a magazine editor gives a female writer (formersilent star Shizue Natsukawa) a guided tour of Shinsekai, a sleazyneighbourhood where food is cheap and criminals gather. Followingthis documentary-style opening, the narrative gradually focuses in onTakako (Sumiko Hidaka), a young woman who lures men to an ‘inn’run by her stepfather, Yamada (Ichiro Sugai), where they aresummarily fleeced and beaten up if they complain.

Ichiro Sugai and Chieko Naniwa
Taiji Tonoyama

Alsoliving there are Takako’s mother (Chieko Naniwa) and blind18-year-old sister Shizuko (Setsuko Wakayama), while their realfather (Taiji Tonoyama) – having finally made it back to Japanafter being a PoW only to find himself usurped by Yamada – is now avagrant who hangs around the neighbourhood. Takako continually has tofend off the attentions of strip club owner Tomisaka (Eitaro Shindo, who also played the title role in Sansho the Bailiff)and hates her life in this cesspit, so when car thief Takami (IsaoKimura) seems to offer a way out, she’s only too ready to pin herhopes on him...

Isao Kimura

This Toei productionwas based on an original screenplay by Kaneto Shindo and directed byhis regular associate Kozaburo Yoshimura. Prior to watching, I wasunder the impression that it starred Machiko Kyo because the woman onthe poster / DVD cover looks like her (could this have beendeliberate?), but it’s actually the lesser-known Sumiko Hidaka, whowas not a star. (Perhaps Shindo and Yoshimura had Kyo in mind butcouldn’t get her as she was under contract to Daiei.) Anyway,Hidaka gives a strong performance in a role that requires her atvarious times to be cynical and hard-bitten, tender andcompassionate, falling-down drunk, and beside herself with anger, allof which she does well. This may well have been her finest hour inthe movies and on this evidence she deserved more success.

Sumiko Hidaka

While there may besome influence from the Italian neorealist films of the time in thefilm’s depiction of post-war poverty, here the main actors are allprofessionals and there’s a little too much melodrama in the plotfor it to be considered very realistic as realism goes. On the otherhand, although most – if not all – of the exteriors were shot onlocation (I assume the interiors were done at Toei's Kyoto studios), the locationwork certainly delivers a vivid portrait of the area at the time.Made shortly after the American occupation ended, this was probablypretty strong stuff for 1952. One weird touch worth mentioning is acouple of shots in negative which are supposed to show us how theblind Shizuko views the world, but I’m not sure they really addedanything other than a certain jarring effect.

Setsuko Wakayama

Eitaro Shindo

Thanks to A.K.

DVD at Amazon Japan (no English subtitles)

English subtitles by Coralsundy

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Obscure Japanese Film #284
Machiko Kyo

O-Koto(Machiko Kyo) is a young blind woman whose parents indulge her everywhim out of pity. She takes a liking to Sasuke (Yoshiaki Hanayagi), ayoung apprentice supposed to be learning her family’spharmaceutical trade, and it’s not long before he’s the only oneshe will allow to help her. Her parents decide to make Sasuke herfull-time companion and he begins learning the shamisen sothat he’ll be able to accompany her on her namesake instrument, thekoto, at which she is proficient enough that her musicteacher, Harumatsu (Sugisaku Aoyama), honours her by awarding her thename ‘Shunkin’. Love grows between O-Koto and Sasuke, but his lowstatus as a servant makes him an awkward prospect for a potentialhusband and a wealthy would-be playboy (Eiji Funakoshi) sets out toseduce her…

Yoshiaki Hanayagi

ThisDaiei production was the second film version of Junichiro Tanizaki’snovella A Portrait of Shunkin following Yasujiro Shimizu’s1935 version starring Kinuyo Tanaka. Yet to come were Teinosuke Kinugasa’s 1961 version starring Fujiko Yamamoto, Kaneto Shindo’seccentric 1972 take and Katsumi Nishikawa’s more commercial 1976 version. Having seen these five versions, this one gets my vote asthe best, mainly because it’s so well-directed by Daisuke Ito,a filmmaker both bold and clever in the way he made use of a camera.Here, we get some complex tracking and crane shots as well as abrief, effectively jarring bit of handheld camera and even a coupleof dramatic shots of faces coming so close to the lens that theyblock out the light. He also frequently fills the screen with extrasperforming bits of background business – set around the time of theMeiji Restoration when all manner of Western items began to maketheir appearance in Japan, at one point he even has a man passing byon a penny farthing followed by three children on stilts. Ito alsoprovides some memorable moments of visual poetry, such as when O-Kotodances alone in the snow, believing herself unobserved.

Thescreenplay was written by Fuji Yahiro, whose impressive track recordincludes classics like Ito’s Five Men of Edo (1951),Mizoguchi’s Sansho the Bailiff (1954) and Uchida’s ABloody Spear at Mount Fuji (1955). It’s an excellent adaptationwhich adds another main character absent from the other versions –O-Ei, a fellow disciple of Harumatsu who is jealous of both O-Koto’stalent and her status as the teacher’s favourite. This character isplayed by Haruko Sugimura, who certainly helps to liven things up abit at times, while Chieko Higashiyama’s narration preserves theliterary flavour.

Haruko Sugimura

Another plus is the strong score by Godzilla composerAkira Ifukube and the koto playing is more impressive andsophisticated in this version. Although Machiko Kyo was dubbed by oneof Japan’s top players (Kiyoko Miyagi*), Kyo’s fingering is soconvincing that it seems likely she must have been able to play itpretty well herself. Her co-star, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, was a stageactor who made few films, but had just played the juvenile lead inSansho the Bailiff, whileEiji Funakoshi plays what can only be called a typical Eiji Funakoshipart.

Eiji Funakoshi

Shunkinmonogatari won the award for best film at the Southeast Asian FilmFestival of 1955 (later renamed the Asia-Pacific Film Festival).

*Youcan listen to an album by Kiyoko Miyagi (aka Kiyoko Makise) onYouTube here.

DVD at Amazon Japan (no English subtitles)

English subtitles by Coralsundy

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Obscure Japanese Film #283

Keiju Kobayashi
Machiko Kyo

The 12th year of the Showa era (1937). Kunihiko (KeijuKobayashi) is a young soldier from an aristocratic family ofChristians. Having just completed his training, he returns home toShirahama in Wakayama Prefecture to say goodbye to his family beforebeing sent to serve in China. While there, he seduces the young maid,Yukiko (Machiko Kyo), not realising that he’s made her pregnant inthe process. Despite pressure from the family, Yukiko refuses to namethe father and is dismissed, while Kunihiko forgets about her.

Four years later,Kunihiko returns and, asked to be a witness for Ushio (OsamuTakizawa), a socialist and fellow Christian accused of spreadinganti-war propaganda, he is shocked to run into Yukiko at the court,where he learns she has been accused of murder after the madam at thebrothel she had been working at tricked her into giving poison to aclient in order to rob him. Seeing Yukiko’s downfall as the resultof his own sinful lapse, the guilt-stricken Kunihiko resolves to doeverything in his power to help her, even if it means breaking tieswith his family…

This is certainly amore faithful adaptation of Tolstoy’s Resurrection thanMizoguchi’s very loose version of 1937 (known in English as TheStraits of Love and Hate), and retains the books deeply Christianperspective, which no doubt meant that it was easily approved by theoccupying American authorities at the time. In the novel, PrinceNekhlyudov is serving on a jury when he realises that one of thedefendants is the maid he had seduced and abandoned years before; theMizoguchi film dispensed with the Christian theme and had theinspired idea of having the male protagonist a theatre audiencemember who sees the former maid – now a comedienne – mockingtheir affair in a comedy sketch.

Adapted by YoshikataYoda, this Daiei production is well-made by director Akira Nobuchi,but it’s also probably the most heavily Christian-influencedJapanese film I’ve seen and the preachiness does become tiresomeafter a while. Kobayashi and Kyo do good work in the leads, althoughKyo was still a relative newcomer at this point and her inexperienceoccasionally shows. Nevertheless, she puts across Yukiko’sconflicting emotions very effectively at times, such as in the scenewhere Kunihiko first visits her in prison. Interestingly, OsamuTakizawa plays a character much like himself in some respects – hehad been arrested during the war for a similar offence and spent 16months in prison.

Osamu Takizawa

The director, AkiraNobuchi (1896-1968), came from the theatre and made around 30 filmsfrom 1935-55, but this is the only one I’ve seen so far.

Thanks to A.K.

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Obscure Japanese Film #282

Kojiro Hongo and Fujiko Yamamoto

O-Koto (Fujiko Yamamoto) is a young blind woman whose parents indulgeher every whim out of pity. She takes a liking to Sasuke (KojiroHongo), a young apprentice who is supposed to be learning herfamily’s pharmaceutical trade, and it’s not long before he’sthe only one she will allow to help her. Her parents decide to makeSasuke her full-time companion and he begins learning the shamisenso that he’ll be ably to accompany her on her namesake instrument,the koto, at which she is proficient. Love grows between thetwo, but Sasuke’s low status as a servant makes him an awkwardprospect for a potential husband and a wealthy would-be playboy(Keizo Kawasaki) sets out to seduce her…

Keizo Kawasaki

This Daieiproduction was the third film version of Junichiro Tanizaki’snovella A Portrait of Shunkin following Yasujiro Shimizu’s1935 version starring Kinuyo Tanaka and Daisuke Ito’s 1954 versionwith Machiko Kyo. Yet to come were Kaneto Shindo’s eccentric 1972take and Katsumi Nishikawa’s more commercial 1976 version. In my review of the latter, I also discuss the 1935 and 1972 versions.

Unlike the AudreyHepburn approach, the part of O-Koto has traditionally been playedwith eyes fully closed which might make it easier for the actor onthe one hand but obviously hampers their expressiveness on the other. Nevertheless, Fujiko Yamamoto puts across the character’s spoilt, proud andstubborn nature very well here but it hardly makes her very likeable,so it’s hard to have much sympathy for O-Koto until she eventuallybecomes the victim of a horrendous crime. Yamamoto repeated the rolein a 1965 TV adaptation. Her co-star, Kojiro Hongo, was –appropriately for the role – of considerably lower status and makeslittle impression at first, though his performance does improve asthe film goes on.

Following theinternational success of his early colour picture Gate of Hellin 1953, director Teinosuke Kinugasa, who also wrote the screenplayfor this and co-wrote the 1976 version, had been entrusted by Daieiwith several big-budget colour productions, but the dark green hueswhich dominate Okoto to Sasuke are considerably less memorablethan Gate of Hell’s striking visual design. In fact, there’slittle to be said about Kinugasa’s direction here other than it is certainly careful and,of course, competent, so I’d only really recommend this film ifyou’re a particular fan of Fujiko Yamamoto or, perhaps, the storyitself, which in this case is treated as a tragic, sentimental lovestory with its more perverse elements not entirely absent, butcertainly not emphasized as they were by Kaneto Shindo.

DVD at Amazon Japan (no English subtitles)

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Obscure Japanese Film #281

Osamu Takizawa

The 11th year of the Tenpo era (1840). Sekio Nakano (OsamuTakizawa) is a senior retainer and trusted advisor to Ienari Tokugawa(Eijro Yanagi), the retired shogun, who remains the most powerful ofthe Tokugawas despite having been succeeded by his son, Ieyoshi(Ichiro Izawa). Nakano is also the adoptive father of Ienari’ssenior concubine, Omiyo-no-kata (Michiyo Kogure). When Ienariimpregnates the younger lady-in-waiting, Otaki-no-kata (HirokoYajima), Nakano arranges for her to have an accident leading to amiscarriage so as not to threaten Omiyo’s position, but when Otakialso dies as a result, the young maid Tomi (Fujiko Yamamoto), who hadhelped set up the accident, is promoted to take her place.

Michiyo Kogure

Tomi has anidentical sister, Toyoharu (also played by Fujiko Yamamoto), wholives with young samurai Shinnosuke (Raizo Ichikawa), who is ratherlazy but an expert swordsman. Living next door to him is Ryoan, afriendly, saké-lovingdoctor (Takashi Shimura), who is called to the castle to examinelady-in-waiting Kikukawa (Michiko Ai) and discovers she’s pregnant.As no men are permitted to enter the Ooku (inner chambers of thepalace), this could cause a scandal, so Nakano orders a cover up.Ryoan’s life is now in danger, and Shinnosuke comes to hisdefence...

Raizo Ichikawa

Most Japanese onlinereviewers seem to regard this Daiei production as a disappointment,and in general it’s not hard to see why – with a talky andconfusing first half, it feels like it takes ages to get anywhere,while eventually ending abruptly with nothing resolved. It was basedon a novel by Seicho Matsumoto – better known for his contemporarycrime dramas – which was not yet finished and was still in theprocess of being serialised in the Tokyo Shinbun when the filmwent into production. Half an hour longer than most Daiei films andhelmed by a prestigious director (Teinosuke Kinugasa, whose 1953 filmGate of Hell had been a prize-winning international success),it was planned as the first part of a grand trilogy, but the sequelswere never made. According to one online commentator, this was due toobjections from Matsumoto, who was displeased with the first film,though on its release Kinema Junpo stated that the openingweekend had been ‘somewhat disappointing’, so this may well havebeen another factor.

Takashi Shimura

The film was heavilypromoted as a vehicle for Daiei’s popular stars Raizo Ichikawa andFujiko Yamamoto, whose 16th film this was together, yetIchikawa is entirely absent for the first 35 minutes and the mainprotagonist actually seems to be the bald villain Nakano, who waspresumably the ‘old fox’ of the film’s silly English title.Unfortunately, as played by the stage-trained Osamu Takizawa – onceacclaimed for playing Willy Loman in a theatre production of Deathof a Salesman – Nakano is too one-dimensional to be terriblyinteresting. And although Yamamoto plays two roles, she was hardly anactor known for her versatility, so there’s little discernibledifference between the two Yamamotos.

Fujiko Yamamoto x2

Having said allthat, there’s actually quite a bit to enjoy here, and things dopick up a bit halfway, with more exterior scenes and more action.Kinugasa’s direction is elegant and makes the most of the excellentart direction and colour cinematography (although everything lookedoddly pale and beige in the copy I watched, so I had to tweak thecolour settings to make it look its best). The music score byMizoguchi / Naruse favourite Ichiro Saito veers from bombastic to sosubtle it’s almost subliminal, but always helps to heighten thesometimes underpowered drama. On a purely aesthetic level, then, I’dcall this one a success and say that the flaws are mostly with thestory.

DVD at Amazon Japan (no English subtitles)

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Obscure Japanese Film #280

Tsuzuya Moroguchi

A 19-year-old engineeringstudent, Toshihiko (Tsuzuya Moroguchi), falls in love with a stageactress (Yuriko Hanabusa) and writes her adoring letters, but when hefinally summons up the courage to speak to her, she laughs at him andflings his letters back in his face. Heartbroken, he takes towandering the country alone until he finally arrives in Hokkaido,where he collapses from hunger and exhaustion. He’s rescued by ashepherdess, O-Toyo (Yoshiko Kawada), whose father (Heijiro Osono)takes him in and gives him a job on the farm, but a fellow farmhand,Otokichi – known as ‘the Wolf’ – (Yotaro Katsumi), is jealousand wants to get rid of him…

Yoshiko Kawada, Moroguchi and Yotaro Katsumi

Likethe previously-reviewed film Diary of a Drunkard, thisShochiku Kamata production was directed by Zanmu Kako, but in thiscase the film seems to have survived more or less in its entirety.Also as in that film, Kako elicits natural performances anddemonstrates a good eye for composition. However, the downside hereis that the overly-contrived plot has dated badly and hinges on acouple of massively unlikely coincidences. It’s also somewhatconfusing at times – perhaps at the time some accompanying benshinarration would have made things clearer.

Kohitsujiclearly has a strong Christian influence, even quoting the story ofJacob’s Ladder from the Book of Genesis in the opening and closingtitle cards, while in the Bible, the lamb is of course a symbol ofinnocence, purity and sacrifice, although it was unclear to mewhether the lamb of the title is supposed to refer to Toshihiko orO-Toyo (or possibly neither). In any case, the rather uninspiredmessage is simply that the wicked will eventually be punished and thegood rewarded.

Thefilm is thought to have been based on an unfinished screenplay by oneNorikuni Yasuda, who has 19 director credits on IMDb between 1924-29,and shot by Hiroshi Nomura, who later worked for Hiroshi Shimizu,Heinsosuke Gosho and Yasushi Sasaki. The two leads, Tsuzuya Moroguchiand Yoshiko Kawada, were big stars of the day who were frequentlycast together – here, they were about halfway through the (atleast) 40 films in which they co-starred. However, it’s YurikoHanabusa who would go on to have the longest career, racking up 242credits on IMDb stretching from 1920 until shortly before her passingin 1970. Among these are starring roles in Souls on the Road(1921), often cited as Japan’s first important film, and Naruse’sWife! Be Like a Rose (1935).

Yuriko Hanabusa

The director and cast came tofilms from the theatre, where they had worked not in kabuki or Noh,but in the new Western-influenced Shingeki (or Shin-engeki)movement. For further info (in Japanese) and to watch the film (without English subtitles), visit the Eiga Meets Shin-engeki website. 

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Obscure Japanese Film #279

Yukichi Iwata

Okawa(Yukichi Iwata) has been a teacher on an island in the Inland Sea forthree years. Despite the fact that he’s also a self-confesseddrunkard, he’s popular with the children and most of the otherislanders, especially O-Tsuyu (Chiyoko Mimura), a young woman who hasbecome his mistress. His past is a mystery but he writes his thoughtsin a private diary; in flashback, it’s revealed that he was once arespected headmaster on the mainland. However, he once stumbled upona bag with a considerable amount of money inside (left unattended bythe treasurer for the school rebuilding fund) and decided to keep it;when his conscience began to protest too much, he decided to confesspublicly and informed his wife of his decision. Unfortunately, beforehe could carry out his intentions, she had committed suicide andtaken their young son with her…

Chiyoko Mimura

ThisShochiku Kamata* production was (like the vast majority of silentJapanese films) long thought completely lost until this 25-minutefragment turned up recently. The original film ran for around 66minutes and would presumably have been screened with live commentaryby a narrator, or benshi; of course, that’s also missinghere, as is a music score. What survives – which seems to be mostof the first half – is in surprisingly good condition, but the filmends abruptly and we never get to see how things turn out. That’s apity, because this was obviously a film of some quality – theperformances are very natural and the photography, though static, iswell-composed.

Thefilm was based on a 1902 story by Doppo Kunikida (1871-1908)**, whilethe screenplay was written by Daisuke Ito, who made his directorialdebut with his own version in 1924 (since lost, of course) and wenton to become a major filmmaker. Director Zanmu Kako (1869-1938) alsocame from the theatre, where he had worked as a playwright and stagedirector. He made around 90 films between 1921 and 1927, almost allof which are entirely lost. That this substantial fragment survivedeven the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 – which severely damaged thestudio where it was made – is a near miracle.

Leadingactor Yukichi Iwata (1887-1980), who is excellent here, was a majorstar of the Japanese silent screen. A former theatre actor, he madehis film debut in 1920 and went on to make over 150 films beforeretiring from the screen around 1942. Today, his most widely-seenfilm is Ozu’s A Mother Should Be Loved (1934). His co-star,Chiyoko Mimura (1903-74) was recruited from the theatre by Kako andsigned to Shochiku. Film critic and historian Junichiro Tanaka(1902-89) singled out her performance in Diary of a Drunkard,saying, ‘She is small and lacks a striking face, but her actingability is undeniable.’ She became a popular star before retiringto look after her family in 1927. Mimura had married film directorKiyohiko Ushihara in 1922; today he’s remembered (if at all) forThe Ghost Cat and the Mysterious Shamisen (1938) and RainbowMan (1949).

*ShochikuKamata was a studio founded in Kamata, Tokyo, in 1920 as an off-shootof the theatre company Shochiku Gomei Kaisha. It lasted until 1936,when noise from nearby factories caused problems in making films inthe new talking picture format and led Shochiku to close it down andtransfer their operations to Shochiku Ofuna in Kamakura.

**Kunikidais sufficiently well-regarded that some of his stories have appearedin English translation, although I believe that ‘Diary of aDrunkard’ is not among them. 

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