is a 1958 Japanese

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

and

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

Yoshitarō Nomura was a prolific Japanese film director, film producer, and screenwriter. His first accredited film, , was released in 1953; his last, , in 1985. He received several awards during his career, including the Japanese Academy Award for "Best Director ...

, based on a story by Seicho Matsumoto.

Plot

After the murder of a pawnbroker,

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 ...

detectives Shimooka and Yuki are sent to

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

, home of murder suspect Ishii's former girlfriend Sadako, as the police expect Ishii to make contact with her. While observing her house, Yuki starts to sympathise with Sadako, who lives in an unhappy marriage with her loveless businessman husband. When Ishii finally meets with Sadako, Yuki's initial presumption, that he might want to kill her and subsequently commit suicide, is proven wrong. Sadako, regretting their once parting, asks Ishii to allow her to go with him, but Ishii, ill with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

, declines. The police arrest Ishii, leaving behind a grieving Sadako.

Cast

Seiji Miyaguchi was a Japanese actor who appeared in films of Akira Kurosawa, Yasujirō Ozu, Mikio Naruse, Tadashi Imai and many others. He succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 71. Distinctions One of Kurosawa's iconic ''Seven Samurai'', Miyaguchi won the 195 ...

as Shimooka * Minoru Ōki as Yuki *

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) ...

as Sadako *

Takahiro Tamura was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in 100 films between 1954 and 2005. He and his younger brothers Masakazu and Ryō were known as the three Tamura brothers. They were sons of actor Tsumasaburo Bando. Biography Tamura graduated from Dosh ...

as Ishii * Hizuru Takachiho as Yumiko *

Kin Sugai (28 February 1926 – 10 August 2018) was a Japanese actress. She won the award for best supporting actress at the 9th Hochi Film Award for '' The Funeral''. Sugai is famous for her role as Sen Nakamura in the jidaigeki drama Hissatsu series. Sh ...

as Mrs. Shimooka *

Kumeko Urabe Kumeko Urabe ( ja, link=no, 浦辺粂子) (October 5, 1902 – October 26, 1989) was a Japanese movie actress, and one of the first in the country. Born Kimura Kume, she also adopted the stage names Kumeko Ichijo, Toyama Midori, Chidori Sh ...

as landlady *

Ryōhei Uchida was a Japanese ultranationalist political theorist, Pan-Asianist, and martial artist, active in the pre-war Empire of Japan. Biography Uchida was born in Fukuoka prefecture. He was the son of '' Shinto Muso-ryu'' practitioner Uchida Ryōgorō ...

as Yamada *

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 ...

as Yumiko's father * Tomoko Fumino as Yumiko's mother * Miki Odagiri as maid * Kazuko Yamamoto as maid *

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 ...

as Sadako's husband

Awards

1958

Kinema Junpo , 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 ...

Award, Blue Ribbon Award and

Mainichi Film Award The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since 1946. It is the first film festival in Japan. History The origins of the contest date back to 1935, ...

for Best Screenplay (

Shinobu Hashimoto Shinobu Hashimoto ( ja, 橋本忍, ''Hashimoto Shinobu''; 18 April 1918 – 19 July 2018) was a Japanese screenwriter, film director and producer. A frequent collaborator of Akira Kurosawa, he wrote the scripts for such internationally acclaime ...

Legacy

Matsumoto's story was repeatedly adapted for television in later years. Some of these adaptations stayed closer to the original story, which has only one detective, Yuki, observe Sadako, while others took over Hashimoto's idea to present two detectives.

References

External links

* * {{Yoshitaro Nomura 1958 films 1958 crime drama films Japanese black-and-white films Japanese crime drama films Films based on short fiction Films directed by Yoshitaro Nomura Shochiku films 1950s Japanese films