Ryuji Kita
1905 - 1972
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
Masaki Kobayashi
Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama
After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labor chief at a large mining operation in Manchuria, which also grants him exemption from military service. He accepts, and moves to Manchuria with his newly-wed wife Michiko, but when he tries to put his ideas of more humane treatment into practice, he finds himself at odds with scheming officials, cruel foremen, and the military police.
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
限りなき前進
Tomu Uchida
Isamu Kosugi, Hisako Takihana
One of Uchida’s early sound films, Unending Advance is based on a curious story by Yasujiro Ozu, in which an examination of the quotidian problems of a middle-aged salaryman and his family segues into an idyllic dream of an implausible future. The surviving print, although incomplete, offers an essential glimpse into Uchida’s prewar period, when he was associated more with realist dramas than with the period films that dominated his work after the war.
Unending Advance
Japan's Longest Day
Kihachi Okamoto
Seiji Miyaguchi, Rokkō Toura
Following the detonation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese military and the government clash over the demand from the Allies for unconditional surrender. Minister of the Army Anami leads the military officers who propose to fight on, even to the death of every Japanese citizen. Emperor Hirohito, however, joins with his ministers in asking the unthinkable, the peaceful surrender of Japan. When the military plots a coup to overthrow the Emperor's civilian government, Anami must face the choice between his desires and loyalty to his Emperor.
Japan's Longest Day
Hero of the Red Light District
Tomu Uchida
Chiezō Kataoka, Yoshie Mizutani
A successful textile industrialist from the provinces, who is beloved by his employees for his kindness, cannot find a wife because of a disfiguring birthmark on his face. Even the courtesans in Yoshiwara refuse to entertain him, until an indentured peasant prostitute, Tamarazu, takes the unsavoury assignment and treats him with brash tenderness.
Hero of the Red Light District
続々禁男の砂・赤いパンツ
Tsuruo Iwama
Minoru Oki, Kyôko Izumi
A woman diver in great peril is rescued by Shinji, a fisherman. But his deed is belittled by Takiko, another diver, as a rash act. Her attitude, however, is nothing but a cloak to hide her affection for him. Shinji, hard working and manly, becomes the focus of many yearning eyes and Seikichi, the boss' son, picks a quarrel with him and violent fight ensues in which Shinji kills a man in self-defense.
Red Pants
ちいさこべ
Tomotaka Tasaka
Kinnosuke Nakamura, Chiemi Eri
A carpenter, Shigetsugu, learns a lesson of love and humanity from five orphaned children and an affectionate woman named Oritsu. It's a winning combination of drama and humor. The warm friendship that grows between the carpenter, the woman and the children making this into a true masterpiece.
A Carpenter and Children
