''The Whole Family Works'' ( ja, はたらく一家, Hataraku ikka) is a 1939 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 ...

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 a novel by Sunao Tokunaga.

Plot

The working class Ishimura family, living on the brink of poverty, depends on the salaries of the father and his three eldest sons, Kiichi, Genji and Noboru, who became factory workers immediately after elementary school. Kiichi sees no prospect of a promotion or salary raise at his job, meaning he could never support a family of his own, and expresses his wish to go to a higher school. While his mother objects against his plan, which would result in a decrease of the family's income, his father is torn between financial necessity and his son's happiness. Mr. Ishimura consults teacher Ogawa, explaining that if he allows Kiichi to follow his ambitions, he would have to allow his other sons the same. During a family meeting, moderated by Ogawa, Mr. Ishimura announces that he will accept his sons' decisions. While Kiichi assures Ogawa that he will work hard, and his younger brothers rejoice, the parents appear worried.

Cast

Musei Tokugawa was a Japanese benshi, actor, raconteur, essayist, and radio and television personality. Musei (as he was called) first came to prominence as a benshi, a narrator of films during the silent era in Japan. He was celebrated for his restrained but e ...

as Mr. Ishimura *

Noriko Honma Noriko Honma (本間文子 ''Honma Noriko'') (29 November 1911 – 12 April 2009) was a Japanese actress whose film work occurred primarily during the 1950s. She was born in Hokkaido. She worked in many of Akira Kurosawa's films, first appearin ...

as Mrs. Ishimura * Akira Ubukata as Kiichi * Kaoru Itō as Genji * Seikichi Minami as Noboru * Takeshi Hirata as Eisaku * Den Ohinata as Ogawa, the teacher * Sumie Tsubaki as Mitsuko

Release

''The Whole Family Works'' premiered in Japan on March 11th, 1939. It was shown in the U.S. as part of a 25 films Naruse retrospective in 1985, organised by the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute and film scholar

Audie Bock Audie Elizabeth Bock (born October 15, 1946) is an American film scholar and politician who served in the California State Assembly from 1999 to 2000, and was elected to the Sarasota County, Florida Soil and Water Conservation District in 2018. S ...

Legacy

Naruse biographer Catherine Russell cites ''The Whole Family Works'', together with his 1939 ''

Sincerity Sincerity is the virtue of one who communicates and acts in accordance with the entirety of their feelings, beliefs, thoughts, and desires in a manner that is honest and genuine. Etymology The Oxford English Dictionary and most scholars state ...

'', as the director's two key films of this period and the "link between Naruse's prewar and postwar shoshimin-eiga".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whole Family Works, The 1939 films 1939 drama films Japanese drama films Films based on Japanese novels Films directed by Mikio Naruse 1930s Japanese-language films