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| Festival Year |
Festival Section |
| 2005 |
Light from the East: Celebrating Japanese Cinema
Shochiku 110 - Naruse 100 -- Prog. 11 |
| Film Title |
IZU NO ODORIKO |
| Alternative Title 1 |
[LA DANZATRICE DI IZU] |
| Alternative Title 2 |
[IZU DANCER / DANCING GIRL FROM IZU] |
| Alternative Title 3 |
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| Country |
Japan |
| Release Date |
2 February 1933 |
| Production Co. |
Shochiku |
| Director |
Heinosuke Gosho |
| Format |
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Speed (fps) |
| 35mm |
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18 |
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| Footage |
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Time |
| 8352 ft. |
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124' |
| Archive Source |
National Film Center, Tokyo |
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| Print Notes |
Didascalie in giapponese sottotitolate in inglese / Japanese intertitles, English subtitles. |
| Cast |
| Kinuyo Tanaka, Den Obinata, Tokuji Kobayashi, Kinuko Wakamizu, Eiko Takamatsu, Atsushi Arai, Ryoichi Takeuchi, Reikichi Kawamura |
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| Other Credits |
| sogg./story: dal romanzo di/from the novel by Yasunari Kawabata; adatt./adapt: Akira Fushimi; f./ph: Joji Obara |
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| Program Notes |
Mizuhara is a student traveling in Izu, a hot-spring resort area, where he meets a traveling theatre company, and falls in love with the actress Kaoru, the younger sister of Eikichi, the leader of the company. Eikichi is suffering extreme poverty, as he has spent all his inheritance. One day Eikichi hears that Zenbei, a man who bought a mine from him, has made a fortune out of the mine. Eikichi becomes furious, and goes to negotiate with Zenbei. Zenbei tells Eikichi to bring Kaoru to him, so that she can quit the miserable life of a touring actress and marry Zenbei’s son. Realizing Zenbei’s goodwill, Mizuhara wishes Kaoru happiness, and leaves for Tokyo.
This film is based on a famous youth novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author Yasunari Kawabata, published in 1926. The novel depicts a romantic episode between a student and a touring actress, set in the beautiful natural landscape of Izu. Some say that Kawabata modeled the young hero after himself. While popular newspaper novels were a common source of film adaptations, it was rare for pure literature such as this to be filmed, and the film’s success opened the door to “literary films”. By the time this film was made, Heinosuke Gosho had consolidated his position as a leading director, having directed over 50 silent films at Shochiku. In fact, his filmmaking career really took off when he was assigned the extremely important task of directing Madamu to nyobo (The Neighbor’s Wife and Mine; 1931), the first talkie produced at Shochiku, and made a film that was both a critical and box-office success. Even so, Gosho mainly continued to direct silent films, and was only occasionally given opportunities to direct talkies. Gosho’s expertise in silent film is evident in this film, which effectively visualizes the fresh lyricism of the original novel. – FUMIKO TSUNEISHI
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