Kyoko Shinobazu

どたんば

Tomu Uchida

Takashi Shimura, Shinjirô Ehara

Based on a 1956 television feature on Japan’s national network, NHK, this is one of Uchida’s rarest films. A socially conscious drama with a contemporary backdrop, Dotanba focuses on the attempts to rescue a group of trapped miners. The title is a figure of speech — (essentially “last minute” or “eleventh hour”) — that refers to a situation of peril. The film boasts a script co-written by Uchida and Akira Kurosawa’s frequent screenwriter, Shinobu Hashimoto, and stars Kurosawa’s frequent star Takashi Shimura.

警視庁物語　上野発五時三五分

Shinji Murayama

Yûji Hori, Takashi Kanda

沃土万里

Fumindo Kurata

Ureo Egawa, Akiko Kazami

In a village in Manchuria, a group of Japanese settlers struggle against the elements to create wet rice paddies.