is a 1933

silent movie ''Silent Movie'' is a 1976 American satirical comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Mel Brooks, released by 20th Century Fox in the summer of 1976. The ensemble cast includes Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman, Bernadette Peters, and Sid Cae ...

produced by Shochiku Company, directed by

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

director

Yasujirō Ozu was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He began his career during the era of silent films, and his last films were made in colour in the early 1960s. Ozu first made a number of short comedies, before turning to more serious themes in t ...

and starring

Takeshi Sakamoto was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1926 to 1965. Selected filmography External links * 1899 births 1974 deaths Japanese male film actors Actors from Hyōgo Prefecture {{Japan-film-actor-stub ...

, Nobuko Fushimi, Den Obinata and Chouko Iida. It won the

Kinema Junpo Award , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

for best film, the second of three consecutive years an Ozu film won, following '' I Was Born, But...'' and preceding ''

A Story of Floating Weeds is a 1934 silent film directed by Yasujirō Ozu which he later remade as ''Floating Weeds'' in 1959 in color. It won the Kinema Junpo Award for best film. Plot The film starts with a travelling kabuki troupe arriving by train at a provincial se ...

''. Ozu regular

Chishū Ryū was a Japanese actor who, in a career lasting 65 years, appeared in over 160 films and about 70 television productions. Early life Ryū was born in Tamamizu Village, Tamana County, a rural area of Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu, the most south ...

has a small role towards the end of the film as a fellow passenger on board a ship.

Plot

Two

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

co-workers at a brewery, Kihachi (

) and Jiro ( Den Obinata), go and visit a rōkyoku performance. On leaving the theater, they happen to chance on a girl Harue ( Nobuko Fushimi), who is destitute with no place to go. Jiro is reluctant to help her out but Kihachi takes a fancy on the pretty girl and decides to give her a place to stay at the house of a restaurant owner friend of his, Otome ( Chouko Iida). She helps out at the place and Otome soon takes a liking for her. Kihachi, an illiterate widower, becomes enamored of the girl and begins grooming himself so that she will take notice of him. Jiro, who is younger and in his thirties, thinks of Harue as nothing but trouble and treats her rudely. Kihachi has a young son Tomio (

Tokkan Kozo ''aka'' was a Japanese film actor. Aoki became famous as a child actor after debuting at the age of six in silent films directed by Yasujirō Ozu. His leading role in Ozu's 1929 short comedy ''Tokkan kozo'' gave Aoki his nickname. '' I Was Bor ...

) who is a fine student at an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

. Harue confides in Kihachi that she thinks him nothing more than a kind uncle. Meanwhile, Otome goes to Kihachi and asks him to talk Jiro into marrying Harue. Kihachi is upset that no one thinks Harue a suitable match for himself, but he speaks to Jiro nonetheless, but Jiro gruffly rejects Kihachi. Kihachi gives Tomio 50 sen to treat himself, and he ends up stuffing himself with so much sweets that he becomes sick with acute

enteritis Enteritis is inflammation of the small intestine. It is most commonly caused by food or drink contaminated with pathogenic microbes,Dugdale, David C., IIII, and George F Longretc"Enteritis" MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, 18 October 2008. Access ...

. Kihachi and Otome fear for his life while his teacher and a classmate visit him to urge him to get well. Kihachi cannot afford the doctor's bill. Harue offers to raise the money but is stopped privately by Jiro, who instead goes to his barber friend for a loan. To repay the loan, Jiro decides to go to

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

to work as a laborer. He promises Harue to return. Just at this point, Kihachi appears and to stop Jiro from going, knocks him unconscious so that he will miss his ship which departs later that day. Kihachi decides to work in Hokkaido instead, despite the attempted dissuasions of Otome and the barber. He leaves Tomio in their care and boards the ship. Shortly after they set sail, Kihachi begins talking to his fellow passengers about his son and, overcome with homesickness and a pining for Tomio, jumps overboard and swims back home.

Release

The film was released in Japan in 1933. It was released with a new score by Donald Sosin on DVD in the US in 2008 via

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

, as part of a three-film collection under the Eclipse Series.''Passing Fancy (1933) - The Criterion Collection''
Accessed 23 July 2009.

Cast

- Kihachi * Tokkan Kozou - Tomio *Nobuko Fushimi - Harue *Den Obinata - Jiro *

Choko Iida Choko may refer to: *An alternative name for Chayote, a green vegetable of the gourd family *Chokó languages, an alternative name for the Choco languages * Chöko, a Tibeto-Burman language *Choko (cup), a type of sake cup * Choko (game) *The name ...

- Otome

References

External links

*
Michael Karpan's essay on ''Passing Fancy''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Passing Fancy 1933 films Japanese black-and-white films Japanese silent films Films directed by Yasujirō Ozu Best Film Kinema Junpo Award winners Films with screenplays by Tadao Ikeda Shochiku films Japanese drama films 1933 drama films 1930s Japanese-language films Silent drama films