is a 1946

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese film

directed Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

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 ...

Hideo Sekigawa was a Japanese film director known mainly for films with a Left-wing politics, left-wing agenda made in the late 1940s and early 1950s. His most noted works are the anti-war films ''Listen to the Voices of the Sea'' (1950) and ''Hiroshima (1953 f ...

and Kajiro Yamamoto (who was also co-writer). It was produced to illustrate the purpose of the

workers' union The Workers' Union was a general union based in the United Kingdom, but with some branches in other countries. During the 1910s, it was the largest general union in the UK, but it entered a rapid decline in the 1920s, and eventually became part ...

at the

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...

film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...

s, as the Allied Forces endorsed the formation of unions as part of the

democratisation Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic Regime, political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an Authoritarianism, auth ...

process during the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Occupation of Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the victorious Allies of World War II from the 1945 surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of the war until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect in 1952. The occupation, led by the United States wi ...

. Kurosawa later denounced the film, calling it "a committee-made film" in which he had been involved only one week, and refused to mention it in his autobiography.

's studio stars

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) ...

and

Susumu Fujita Susumu Fujita () (8 January 1912 – 23 March 1991) was a Japanese film and television actor. He played the lead role in Akira Kurosawa's first feature, ''Sanshiro Sugata'', and appeared in other Kurosawa films including ''The Men Who Tread On ...

appear playing themselves.

Plot

The sisters Chieko, a

script girl A script supervisor (also called continuity supervisor or script) is a member of a film crew who oversees the continuity of the motion picture including wardrobe, props, set dressing, hair, makeup and the actions of the actors during a scene. The ...

working at a big film studio, and Aiko, a revue dancer, are daughters to anti-unionist father Gintaro. When the workers at a railway company, including the family's subtenant Seizo, go on strike, Chieko and her co-workers demonstrate their solidarity and call for strike as well to achieve financial security for the film studio's staff. Meanwhile, Aiko and her dancing troupe decide to get organised in opposition to the theatre's mean stage manager. When Gintaro is fired together with a large group of employees at his company, he finally gives up his reluctance and joins the unionists, impressed by their earnestness.

Cast

- Fujita *

- Takamine *

Kenji Susukida Kenji may refer to: *Kenji (given name), a masculine Japanese given name, and list of people & characters with this name *Kenji (era), a Japanese era spanned from 1275 to 1278 * ''Kenji'' (manga) (拳児), a 1980s manga by Matsuda Ryuchi * "Kenji" ...

- Gintaro Okamoto, Father * Masayuki Mori - Seizo Hori, Chauffeur * Chieko Takehisa - Kin Okamoto, Mother *

Takashi Shimura was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1934 and 1981. He appeared in 21 of Akira Kurosawa's 30 films (more than any other actor), including as a lead actor in ''Drunken Angel'' (1948), ''Rashomon'' (1950), ''Ikiru'' (1952) an ...

- Theatre manager * Yonosuke Toba - Okamoto's colleague *

Masao Shimizu was a Japanese actor. His wife was actress Yumi Takano. His first starring role in the film was in ''Momoiro no Yuwaku'' in 1931. In 1947, he formed the Mingei Theatre Company. Shimizu often work with Akira Kurosawa. He appeared in more than 2 ...

- Section chief * Hyo Kitazawa - Director * Chieko Nakakita

References

External links

* * * {{Akira Kurosawa 1946 films 1946 drama films Japanese drama films Japanese black-and-white films Films directed by Akira Kurosawa Films produced by Sōjirō Motoki Toho films Films directed by Kajiro Yamamoto