is a 1935 black and white Japanese comedy film directed by

Sadao Yamanaka was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed 26 films between 1932 and 1938. He was a contemporary of Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Kenji Mizoguchi and one of the primary figures in the development of the ''jidaigeki'', or historic ...

and starring

Denjirō Ōkōchi was a Japanese people, Japanese film actor best known for starring roles in jidaigeki directed by leading Japanese filmmakers. Early life and family Ōkōchi was born Masuo Ōbe on February 5, 1898, in Ōkōchi, Iwaya (present-day Ōkōchi, Buz ...

Cast

Tange Sazen Tange may refer to: People: *Arthur Tange (1914–2001), Australian senior public servant * Jun Watanabe Tange or Watanabe Jun (born 1954), Japanese architect, former professor at Chubu University *Kenzo Tange (1913–2005), Japanese architect, win ...

* Kiyozo: Ofuji * Kunitaro Sawamura: Genzaburo Yagyu * Reisaburo Yamamoto: Yokichi *

Minoru Takase was a Japanese comedian and actor. Career Born in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Takase moved to Tokyo in 1905 and began acting in shinpa theater. He started to appear in films after 1915, including Teinosuke Kinugasa's avant-garde film ''A Page of Madness ...

: Shigeju *

Ranko Hanai was a Japanese actress. Her birth name was Shimizu Yoshiko. She appeared in more than 190 films between 1931 and 1961. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1961 at the age of 42. Selected filmography * ''The Million Ryo Pot'' (1935) * ''Fallen ...

: Ogino

Story

A man gives an old pot to his brother, not realizing there is a treasure map inside. His sister-in-law sells the pot to a junk dealer, who in turn sells it to a boy named Yasu. A cast of colorful characters are all looking for this pot, and when the child runs away after being chided by Ogino, everyone goes after him. The end, however, is covered in disappointment - the hope of each character that their world will get better is each individually crushed, in a humorous manner.

Reception

Mark Schilling Mark Schilling (born 1949) is an American film critic, journalist, translator, and author based in Tokyo, Japan. He has written for ''The Japan Times'', ''Variety'', and ''Screen International''. Biography Schilling began working for ''The Japan ...

of ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'' noted that the film was "universally considered the best of all the

lot." The Japanese filmmaker

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

cited this movie as one of his 100 favorite films.

References

External links

* * 1935 films Japanese black-and-white films Films directed by Sadao Yamanaka Nikkatsu films Japanese comedy films 1935 comedy films Films set in Edo Films about orphans {{1930s-Japan-film-stub