Twenty-Four Eyes (1954) Nijûshi no hitomi (original title)

Director:

Keisuke Kinoshita

Writers:

Keisuke Kinoshita (screenplay)
Sakae Tsuboi (novel)

Release Date:

15 September 1954 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Schoolteacher Hisako Oishi struggles to imbue her students with a positive view of the world and their place in it...

Plot Keywords:

Schoolteacher | Snare | Blind | Anti War | Sino Japanese War

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 9 wins

Cast

Hideki Gôko	...	Isokichi Okada - Bunkyôjô Jidai
Itsuo Watanabe	...	Takeichi Takeshita - Bunkyôjô Jidai
Makoto Miyagawa	...	Kichiji Tokuda - Bunkyôjô Jidai
Takeo Terashita	...	Tadashi Morioka - Bunkyôjô Jidai
Kunio Satô	...	Nita Aizawa - Bunkyôjô Jidai
Hiroko Ishii	...	Masuno Kagawa - Bunkyôjô Jidai
Yasuko Koike	...	Misako Nishiguchi - Bunkyôjô Jidai
Setsuko Kusano	...	Matsue Kawamoto - Bunkyôjô Jidai
Kaoko Kase	...	Sanae Yamaishi - Bunkyôjô Jidai
Yumiko Tanabe	...	Kotsuru Kabe - Bunkyôjô Jidai
Ikuko Kanbara	...	Fujiko Kinoshita - Bunkyôjô Jidai
Hiroko Uehara	...	Kotoe Katagiri - Bunkyôjô Jidai
Hitoshi Gôko	...	Isokichi Okada - Honkô Jidai
Shirô Watanabe	...	Takeichi Takeshita - Honkô Jidai
Jun'ichi Miyagawa	...	Kichiji Tokuda - Honkô Jidai
Takeaki Terashita	...	Tadashi Morioka - Honkô Jidai
Takeshi Satô	...	Nita Aizawa - Honkô Jidai
Shisako Ishii	...	Masuno Kagawa - Honkô Jidai
Akiko Koike	...	Misako Nishiguchi in upper class
Sadako Kusano	...	Matsue Kawamoto - Honkô Jidai
Kayoko Kase	...	Sanae Yamaishi - Honkô Jidai
Naoko Tanabe	...	Kotsuru Kabe - Honkô Jidai
Toyoko Ozu	...	Fujiko Kinoshita - Honkô Jidai
Masako Uehara	...	Kotoe Katagiri - Honkô Jidai
Yumeji Tsukioka	...	Masuno
Toshiko Kobayashi	...	Sanae
Kuniko Igawa	...	Matsue
Takahiro Tamura	...	Isokichi
Chishû Ryû	...	Otoko Sensei
Shizue Natsukawa	...	Ôishi Sensei no Haha
Kumeko Urabe	...	Otoko Sensei no Tsuma
Nijiko Kiyokawa	...	Yorozuya
Chieko Naniwa	...	Meshiya no Kamisan
Ushio Akashi	...	Kôchô
Hideyo Amamoto	...	Ôishi Sensei no Otto
Toshio Takahara	...	Chiririn'ya
Tokuji Kobayashi	...	Matsue no Chichi
Toyo Takahashi	...	Kobayashi Sensei (as Toyoko Takahashi)
Toyoko Shinohara	...	Misako
Mayumi Minami	...	Kotsuru
Kimiyo Ôtsuka	...	Tamura Sensei
Tazuko Kusaka	...	Matsue no Haha
Kazuko Motohashi	...	Masuno no Haha
Rei Miura	...	Takeichi
Yasukuni Toida	...	Kichiji
Yoshikazu Ôtsuki	...	Tadashi
Tatsuo Shimizu	...	Nita
Yoshiko Nagai	...	Kotoe
Shôsuke Oni	...	Kyôin
Nobuo Takagi	...	Kyôin
Tsutomu Uemura	...	Kyôin
Kayoko Terada	...	Kangofu
Toshiyuki Yashiro	...	Ôishi Sensei no Ko - Daikichi
Yutaka Yashiro	...	Ôishi Sensei no Ko - Daikichi - Yônenki
Naoji Kinoshita	...	Jinan - Namiki
Hisayuki Ukita	...	Jinan - Namiki - Yônenki
Keiko Gôko	...	Chôjo - Yatsu
Hideko Takamine	...	Ôishi Sensei

Directed by
Keisuke Kinoshita

Writing credits
Keisuke Kinoshita		(screenplay)
Sakae Tsuboi		(novel)

Produced by
Ryôtarô Kuwata	....	producer

Original Music by
Chûji Kinoshita

Cinematography by
Hiroyuki Kusuda

Film Editing by
Yoshi Sugihara

Art Direction by
Kimihiko Nakamura

Set Decoration by
Ushitaro Shimada

Costume Design by
Eikichi Hayashi

Production Management
Masaharu Kokaji	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Yoshirô Kawagashira	....	assistant director

Art Department
Kakuzô Sasu	....	set designer

Sound Department
Shûzô Horikawa	....	sound mixer
Hideo Nishizaki	....	sound recordist
Hisao Ono	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Kyôichi Arano	....	assistant photographer
Ryozo Toyoshima	....	gaffer

Other crew
Yoshio Nakahara	....	film development

Production Companies

• Shôchiku Eiga

Distributors

• Criterion Collection, The (2008) (USA) (DVD) (156-min.version)
• Eureka Entertainment (2006) (UK) (DVD)
• Filmfreak Distributie (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• MK2 Diffusion (2007) (France) (DVD)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1975) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Shochiku Home Video (2012) (Japan) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

Also Known As:

"Nijûshi no hitomi" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

156 min | USA:116 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Brazil:18 | UK:U | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Shodoshima, Kagawa, Japan

Company:

Shôchiku Eiga

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Violence at Noon (1966)

Soundtrack:

The Last Rose of Summer

Outstanding

Nearly everyone who rated this film gave it 10/10, and it's easy to see why. This is a wonderful and bittersweet story about a teacher and her first twelve students, the "24 eyes" of the title, on a fairly remote island community. The story sweeps over about 20 years, from the students in the first grade, then the sixth, then as later teenagers, then four years later. The story begins in the late 1920s, and thus spans a turbulent time in Japanese history, which of course impacts greatly on the characters, even on a fairly isolated island.

Hideko Takamine is perhaps my favourite Japanese actress. This luminous and loveable women with the dazzling smile is a joy to behold and, playing the object of much affection from the children (though only sometimes from the adults), creates a wonderful feeling. Man, I wish I'd had her as a teacher in lower primary school.

There's a strong sense of community in this story, which is one of its strong points, but it is not always a positive thing for the characters. The older women gossip, of course, about the 'modern' new teacher, because she rides a bike and wears western clothes.

The director expertly presses all the emotional buttons of the audience. There are some people who detest this sort of thing, but I'm a sucker for it. In the hands of an expert director, and for the purposes of entertainment, there's nothing wrong with being taken on a emotional roller-coaster ride. There are some high points and many sad events in the story, which moves along at a pace which is sometimes leisurely but never dull.

This film is not free of faults. Aside from the very overt emotional manipulation, there are several tunes which are vastly overused. For instance, "auld lang syne" is played at least ten times.

Also, and most surprisingly, Hideko's range is limited. Despite two and a half hours, together with Hideko being the undisputed star, she shows only three expressions during the entire proceedings. Comparison to the superb HAPPINESS FOR US ALONE shows this clearly. In HFUA, Hideko plays a deaf-mute and uses her wonderfully expressive face to full effect.

But these are minor points, and no reason to mark it down from a perfect score. This is a must-see for anyone who loves film.