IMDb > Ninjo kami fusen (1937)

Ninjo kami fusen (1937) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
7.7/10   429 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 1% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writer:
Shintarô Mimura (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Ballad of the Paper Balloons on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
August 1982 (USA) more
Genre:
User Comments:
HUMANITY AND PAPER BALLOONS (Sadao Yamanaka, 1937) *** more (8 total)

Cast

  (Credited cast)
Chojuro Kawarasaki ... Matajuro Unno, a samurai
Kan'emon Nakamura ... Shinza, the barber
Tsuruzo Nakamura
Choemon Bando
Sukezo Sukedakaya ... Landlord
Emitaro Ichikawa
Noboru Kiritachi
Shizue Yamagishi ... Otaki, Matajuro's wife
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Daisuke Katô ... Isuke - Yatagoro henchman
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Ballad of the Paper Balloons (International: English title)
Humanity and Paper Balloons
more
Runtime:
86 min
Country:
Language:
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Company:

Fun Stuff

Movie Connections:
Featured in 100 Years of Japanese Cinema (1994) (TV) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
HUMANITY AND PAPER BALLOONS (Sadao Yamanaka, 1937) ***, 3 February 2009
7/10
Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta

The last film of its young director Sadao Yamanaka - who died the following year at just 28 years of age while serving with the Japanese army in China; actually, this film's R2 DVD release some years ago under Eureka's "Masters Of Cinema" label was the first I have ever heard of him at all (although this same film was subsequently shown on late-night Italian TV). HUMANITY AND PAPER BALLOONS concerns the lives of the inhabitants of a slum tenement and is, by necessity, reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa's later Japanese transposition of Maxim Gorky's THE LOWER DEPTHS (1957). The main protagonists are a married, alcoholic ronin seeking repeatedly but vainly to be employed by an ex-protégé (now wealthy) of his father's and a wily crook who takes revenge on his tormentor (for keeping a gambling joint) by kidnapping the latter's intended. The film - which starts and ends with a suicide – is very sensitively handled throughout, belying Yamanka's youth and revealing him to be as much a forgotten master Japanese film-maker as Tomu Uchida (which I also experienced for the first time earlier this year after my equally recent discovery of him). There have been rumors online of this film being in the pipeline for a future Criterion DVD release but, in spite of its undeniable artistic merits, personally I am satisfied with the edition currently available.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more (8 total)

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Ninjo kami fusen (1937)

Recommendations

If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
- - - - -
Shichinin no samurai Yojimbo Chûshingura zenpen Rashômon Ame agaru
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
Show more recommendations

Related Links

Full cast and crew Company credits External reviews
IMDb Drama section IMDb Japan section Add this title to MyMovies

You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.