is a 1941 Japanese

comedy drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple co ...

film written and directed by

Mikio Naruse was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 89 films spanning the period 1930 to 1967. Naruse is known for imbuing his films with a bleak and pessimistic outlook. He made primarily shomin-geki ("common people drama") films with female protagonists, ...

. It is based on the serialised novella ''Okoma-san'' by

Masuji Ibuse was a Japanese author. His most notable work is the novel '' Black Rain''. Early life and education Ibuse was born in 1898 to a landowning family in the village of , which is now part of Fukuyama, Hiroshima. Ibuse failed his entrance exam to ...

and the first collaboration of Naruse and star

Hideko Takamine was a Japanese actress who began as a child actress and maintained her fame in a career that spanned 50 years. She is particularly known for her collaborations with directors Mikio Naruse and Keisuke Kinoshita, with ''Twenty-Four Eyes'' (1954) ...

Plot

Okoma, a young lady working as a conductor with the Kohoku bus company in Kofu, Yamanashi, is worried about the dwingling number of passengers, who prefer the more expensive but clean and faster buses of the competing Kaihatsu company. After hearing a radio programme about bus guides, she develops the idea to entertain the passengers with informations about the local sites during the drive. After convincing the driver Sonoda and the company boss of her idea, she manages to get visiting writer Ikawa to write a script for her. Ikawa waives a payment because Okoma had found and returned his lost notebook. During the practice run, Okoma is hurt and the bus slightly damaged in an accident. The company boss tries to talk Sonoda into giving false testimony about the accident's circumstances to collect the insurance money, but Sonoda, after consulting Ikawa, finally rejects. Confronted with his foul attempt by Ikawa, the boss orders to have the bus cleaned instead. After waving Ikawa good-bye, Okoma and Sonoda give their initial guided bus tour, not knowing that the boss has sold the bus in the meantime and is closing down the company.

Cast

as Okoma *

Kamatari Fujiwara was a Japanese actor. Fujiwara worked regularly and extensively with Akira Kurosawa, and was known for both being adept at comic acting, as well as being able to take on serious roles. Early life and career Early life Fujiwara was born on ...

(credited Keita Fujiwara) as Sonoda *Daijirō Natsukawa as Ikawa *Tamae Kiyokawa as landlady *Yotaro Katsumi as company boss *Tsuruko Mano as Okama's mother

Background

Hideko Takamine, in the principal role as Okoma, was already a famous film star for her childhood roles, and the title of the film refers to her name rather than that of the character which bears no first name in the original novella. Also, Naruse lightened the ending of Ibuse's story. This was the first film that Naruse made with Takamine, with sixteen more to follow between 1945 and 1966. Naruse scholar Catherine Russell has described this film as "a remarkable film about a young woman 'coming out' as a professional, articulate, speaking subject."

References

External links

* * {{Mikio Naruse 1941 films 1941 comedy-drama films Japanese comedy-drama films Japanese black-and-white films Films based on short fiction Films directed by Mikio Naruse Toho films 1940s Japanese-language films