The Most Beautiful (1944)
"Ichiban utsukushiku" (original title)

During World War II, the management of a war industry of optical instruments for weapons requests an effort from the workers to increase the productivity during four months. The target for ... See full summary »

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writer:

Akira Kurosawa

Stars:

Takashi Shimura, Sôji Kiyokawa, Ichirô Sugai

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Takashi Shimura	...	Chief Goro Ishida
Sôji Kiyokawa	...	Soichi Yoshikawa, Chief of General Affairs Section
Ichirô Sugai	...	Ken Shinda, Chief of Labor Section
Takako Irie	...	Noriko Mizushima, dorm mother
Yôko Yaguchi	...	Tsuru Watanabe, president of women workers
Sayuri Tanima	...	Yuriko Tanimura, vice president of the women workers
Sachiko Ozaki	...	Sachiko Yamazaki
Shizuko Nishigaki	...	Fusae Nishioka
Asako Suzuki	...	Asako Suzumura
Haruko Toyama	...	Masako Koyama
Aiko Masu	...	Tokiko Hiroda
Kazuko Hitomi	...	Kazuko Futomi
Shizuko Yamada	...	Hisae Yamaguchi
Itoko Kono	...	Sue Okabe
Toshiko Hattori	...	Toshiko Hattori

Storyline

During World War II, the management of a war industry of optical instruments for weapons requests an effort from the workers to increase the productivity during four months. The target for male workers is an increase of 100% of the production, but the female workers, led by the dedicated Tsuru Watanabe, ask the direction to surpass their goal from 50% to 70%. During the period, the women have to overcome illness and their personal problems to complete their quota.

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Plot Keywords:

shoe | weapon making | world war two | factory worker

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

June 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Most Beautiful

Filming Locations:

Toho Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Information Section of the Japanese Navy, just after the success of Sanshiro Sugata approached Akira Kurosawa about making a film focusing on Zero fighter pilots. Due to budget issues at this stage in the war, he instead made "The Most Beautiful" (1944).

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Connections

Referenced in Kurosawa: The Last Emperor (1999)

User Reviews

The Most Beautiful

Most Beautiful, The (1944)

** (out of 4)

Interesting WW2 era film about a factory in Japan who asks their men to raise production by 100% and then ask the women to do 50%. At first the women are insulted by not being asked to do as much as the men but they soon find out that this raise in production is going to test every bit of their soul both physically and mentally. This early Kurosawa film isn't a good one but it is interesting and does have a few moments where the director does something great. What I found most interesting about the film is how different it is from the WW2 films that were being produced in Hollywood at the time. There's no question that this is a propaganda piece for the Japanese people but it's interesting to see how their moral was attempted at being raised. Most of the American WW2 pictures were "fight, fight, fight" and you can say that about this film but the difference is that the fight is mostly a personal drama with each of the women. Then being ashamed that they can't produce more for their country. Being ashamed that they are sick and can't do their part for a day. Ashamed that their parents might learn they were sick and couldn't do the job. The film does a pretty good job at building up these dramas but sadly none of their stories are strong enough to make the film be a total success. I think most of the blame has to go towards the screenplay that is a bit too over dramatic during certain scenes and there are some major issues with some of the performances. It's obvious Toho didn't give Kurosawa much of a budget but the director shows that he can handle the personal drama quite nicely. The most impressive sequence in the film happens early on when the women are told that production is going to be raised. This somewhat long sequence shows us many of the women talking amongst each other and Kurosawa builds up us thinking they're unhappy about the raise but the way he explains what they're really upset about was quite powerful. The film runs 85-minutes and even at this short pace the film begins to run out of gas and really drag along towards the end. Fans of Kurosawa will probably want to check this out but others will probably hit the stop button early on.