Details
HITORICA FOCUS
A posthumous film of a 28-year-old genius who succumbed to illness on the WWII battleground
The residents of a tenement house in Fukagawa, Edo, are struggling to make a living during an unusually long rainy season. Masterless samurai Unno Matajuro visits Mouri Misaemon again and again seeking a job, but always fails to elicit a good response. Meanwhile, when the rain finally lets up, hairdresser Shinza gets ready to leave for work. However, he is stopped by a detective investigating why an elderly resident of the tenement house hanged himself to death. The rare sunny day was ruined by the investigation, and to add insult to injury, Shinza was denied a loan by the local rich family Shirokoya even though he was ready to pawn his work tools. On the night of a local festival, Shinza comes across Okoma, the daughter of Shirokoya, who was talking shelter from the rain. To avenge Shirokoya’s head Genshichi, Shinza kidnaps Okoma and entrusts her in the hands of unsuspecting Matajuro.
Director Sadao Yamanaka
Actor Choujuro Kawarasaki, Kanemon Nakamura, Shizue Yamagishi, Tsuruzo Nakamura, Choemon Bando, Noboru Kiritachi
Japan｜ 1937｜ 86min｜ Toho｜
- Human Drama
director
Sadao Yamanaka [Film Director]
Sadao Yamanaka was born in 1909 in Kyoto City. His film career began when he joined Makino Company in 1927. He made his directorial debut from Kanjuro Productions with Iso no Genta: Dakine no Nagadosu (1932) which ranked 8th in the Kinema Junpo Best 10 list. In 1933, He moved to Nikkatsu Kyoto Studio from which he released multiple films including Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryō (1935) starring Denjiro Okochi, Machi no Irezumimono (1935) which was his first collaboration with the kabuki theater group Zenshinza, and Kochiyama Soshun (1936). In 1937, he was hired away from Nikkatsu to P.C.L. (now Toho) in Tokyo and shot Ninjo Kami-Fusen (1937) with Zenshinza. In 1938, he passed away from acute gastroenteritis at 29 in a field hospital located in the Henan Province.
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