is a 1954 Japanese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Kaneto Shindō was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include ''Children of Hiroshima'', ''The Naked Island'', '' Onibaba'', ''Kuroneko'' and ' ...

and starring

Nobuko Otowa was a Japanese actress who appeared in more than 100 films between 1950 and 1994. A graduate of Takarazuka Girl's Opera School, Otowa was first signed to Daiei studios, before becoming a freelance actress by the early 1950s. After starring in ...

Plot

Toku shares a shack in a shanty village in Kawasaki with his friend Pin-chan. On his way to the steel factory where he works, Toku meets an exhausted, starving woman, Tsuru, whom he reluctantly gives some of his food. The factory is on strike, but instead of joining the unionists, who are attacked by strikebreakers, he spends his little money at the bicycle races. After returning home to his shack, he discovers that Tsuru followed him. The two men try to get rid of the seemingly disturbed woman, but let her stay after she gives them her money. Tsuru tells the people of the village her story: An expatriate from

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

, she lost her textile factory job due to a strike, then was robbed of her severance pay, raped, sold to a brothel in

Tsuchiura is a Cities of Japan, city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 138,033 in 60,069 households and a population density of 1123 persons per km2. The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 29.7%. Th ...

, from which she escaped with a friend from Kawasaki. Toku and Pin-chan sell her to a local brothel, run by the landlord on whose territory the shanty town stands, telling the gullible Tsuru that Pin-cha needs the money for his education. After throwing Tsuru out for her whimsical behaviour, the landlord demands his money back, including compensation for broken goods. Tsuru earns the money by working as a prostitute outside the train station. Following a fight (and possible rape attempt), Pin-chan throws Tsuru out of the shack. Back at the station, the other prostitutes try to beat Tsuru up. She fends them off with a stolen policeman's revolver and is finally shot dead by the police. At her wake, a letter of Tsuru is read, encouraging the villagers to resist the landlord who wants to turn the territory into a motorcycle racetrack. Toku and Pin-chan mourn her death, admitting their guilt in her fate.

Cast

as Tsuru *

Jūkichi Uno (real name ; 27 September 1914 – 9 January 1988) was a Japanese actor. In 1950, he formed the with Osamu Takizawa and others. Personal life He is the father of musician Akira Terao. Filmography Honours *Medals of Honor (Japan), Medal wi ...

as Pin-chan *

Taiji Tonoyama was a Japanese character actor who made many appearances in films and on television from 1939 to 1989. He was a close friend of Kaneto Shindo and one of his regular cast members. He was also an essayist. In 1950 he helped form the film company Ki ...

as Toku * Mutsuhiko Tsurumaru as Nishimura *

Ichiro Sugai was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 300 films between 1930 and 1971. Sugai often worked with Kaneto Shindo, Kenji Mizoguchi and Kōzaburō Yoshimura. Selected filmography * ''The Water Magician'' (1933) * '' Spring on Leper's Islan ...

as Landlord * Tsutomu Shimomoto as Sugimura *

Sō Yamamura was a Japanese actor and film director. He was also known by the name Satoshi Yamamura, while his actual birth name is Koga Hirosada. Yamamura graduated from University of Tokyo. In 1942, Yamamura and Isao Yamagata formed the ''Bunkaza Theatre ...

as Businessman * Noriko Matsuyama as Asako * Mayuri Mokusho as Hiromi * Hiroshi Kondo as Teruaki *

Yoshi Katō was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than 175 films between 1949 and 1988. He won the award for Best Actor at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival for his role in ''Hometown''. He married the actress Isuzu Yamada in 1950, but ...

as Doctor

Reception

Japanese film scholar Alexander Jacoby describes ''Dobu'' as "a searing account of urban poverty". Though critical of its sentimentality, film historian

Donald Richie Donald Richie (17 April 1924 – 19 February 2013) was an American-born author who wrote about the Japanese people, the culture of Japan, and especially Japanese cinema. Although he considered himself primarily a film historian, Richie also dir ...

pointed out that the "images had a strength that made one remember them", comparing ''Dobu'' to

Vittorio De Sica Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement. Four of the films he directed won Academy Awards: ''Sciuscià'' and ''Bicycle Thieves'' (honorary) ...

's ''

Miracle in Milan ''Miracle in Milan'' ( it, Miracolo a Milano) is a 1951 Italian fantasy film directed by Vittorio De Sica. The screenplay was co-written by Cesare Zavattini, based on his novel ''Totò il Buono.'' The picture stars Francesco Golisano, Emma Grama ...

''.

References

External links

* {{Kaneto Shindo 1954 films 1950s Japanese-language films Japanese drama films Japanese black-and-white films Films directed by Kaneto Shindo Films scored by Akira Ifukube Films set in Kanagawa Prefecture 1954 drama films 1950s Japanese films