Roslindale Monogatari

Ai yori ai e (Yasujiro Shimazu, 1938) (no established English title -- possibly something like "From Love to Love") Shuji Sano and Sanae Takasugi want to get married -- but have a number of problems. He is not having much luck with career as a self-employed writer -- and she is supporting them both, while working as a bar hostess. Even worse, his father (Ryotaro Mizushima) disapproved of the marriage and has "banished" him from the family -- to the dismay of his mother (Ayako Katsuragi), younger sister (Mieko Takamine) and uncle (Takeshi Sakamoto). Will the rest of the family manage to bring father -- or son -- around? The son is offered a good job -- if her gives the girl up. the uncle presses her to give Sano up -- for his own good. As a respite from the familial strife, Sano, Takasugi and Takamine go to the movies -- to see Riefenstahl's Olympia . Once again, we find a Shimazu film that seems to be a model for post-war Ozu (in this case -- we a foreshad...

Ani to sono imoto / Older Brother and His Younger Sister (Yasujiro Shimazu, 1939) Practically a template for post-war Ozu -- by Ozu's (slightly) senior colleague at Shochiku. Shimazu's millieu here (reasonably well off middle class) and domestic dilemmas presented are closer to late Ozu than pre-war Ozu is. Shin Saburi is a salaryman married to Kuniko Miyake (an Ozu mainstay from the 40s through the 60s), with a younger sister (Michiko Kuwano). Saburi has job problems -- and has to worry about marriage prospects of his sister (who is a westernized office girl). Whenever the family runs into problems, they turn to family friend Chishu Ryu (playing a part very like that he plays in Ozu's Early Spring ). The solution to the family's woes, however, betrays its era -- a move to Japanese-occupied Manchuria as colonists. While I could follow this in general terms, I would appreciate seeing a subbed version of this -- something I doubt will happen any time soon. La voie lacté...

Shunkinsho: Okoto to Sasuke / Okoto and Sasuke (Yasujiro Shimazu. 1935) First adaptation of Tanizaki's story about a blind musician and her exceedingly devoted male attendant (released when the book was still hot off the press). Kinuyo Tanaka is marvelous as the strong-willed yet sometimes childish youngest daughter of a merchant family, who has been trained as a musician from childhood, due to her blindness. Kôkichi Takada (as her guide and watchdog, more or less) is likewise very fine. Her life is complicated by an insistent (and fairly villainous) wealthy "suitor" (played by Ozu regular Tatsuo Saito). When she scars his face while resisting an attempted rape, he arranges for tit-for-tat revenge. After her face is disfigured, Okoto hides from everyone, which her aide finds unendurable -- and he takes drastic action to allow him to once again rejoin her company. Interestingly, Kitano's Dolls (his own meditation on "mad love") uses an updated variant of ...

Watashi no nisan / My Older Brother (Yasujiro Shimazu, 1934) (not yet in IMDB -- which lists only 35 of Shimazu's 160 films) An early Japanese sound film starring Kazuo Hasegawa (heart throb of historical films -- in his first "modern" role, still working under the name of Chojiro Hayashi) and a young Kinuyo Tanaka. A romantic comedy, with elements of suspense and sentimental melodrama, all crammed into 70 minutes or so. Hasegawa is a prodigal son, who has just been returned to his brother (Reikichi Kawamura), who owns a limousine service. To show his gratitude for his kind reception, Hasegawa volunteers to chauffeur a couple of rather shady individuals who arrive just at closing time. It turns out they are on an errand to return a young runaway heiress to her home (whether she wants to go or not). Hasegawa, seeing a maiden in distress, rescues Tanaka. The film mostly chronicles the pair's adventures -- as Tanaka meets new experiences, such as less than sanitary road...