Kita no san-nin (1945) User Reviews

Plane 60 Requesting Assistance

[richardchatten · 8/10 · 10 June 2021]

A sort of cross between 'Only Angels Has Wings' and 'The VIPs' set in an airfield surrounded by picturesquely snowy wastes in Hokkaido; it was released the day before Hiroshima was bombed, thus promptly rendering its inspiring message to the home front rather obsolete.

Although the film is set in wartime with a heroine whose brother died in action in Burma, the graceful direction by a name new to me, aided by fluid camerawork by Kurosawa's later regular collaborator Asaichi Nakai gives it a rather thirties feel, as does the melancholy saxophone score on the soundtrack. It also has a rather Soviet feel in it's emphasis on the role of women in uniform (throughout the film they are referred to as "female-radio-operators" as if it's one word; which in Japanese it is), with the heroine proving her mettle on "a crucial mission" facilitated by model work by special effects veteran Eiji Tsuburaya (who later worked on the Godzilla movies).

"In Tokyo the cherry blossoms must be in bloom by now."

[morrison-dylan-fan · 7/10 · 29 March 2020]

Seeing a poll for the best films of 1945 wrapping up soon on ICM,I looked for a title to view for the poll. Checking the Japanese movies I have from the year,the first download I clicked on had a swift run-time,leading me to reach for the sky.

View on the film:

Flying onto screens less than a month before Japan surrendered in WWII, leading to it being the only "new release" on the big screen in the country for August 1945, director Kiyoshi Saeki & cinematographer Asakazu Nakai late attempt at propaganda has a oddly defeatist atmosphere, with even the ending message of endure your hardships for the greater cause taking a bumpy landing, due to the characters coming across as less than fulfilled by the final results.

Wisely keeping away from visible flag-waving,Saeki flies in on a elegant Melodrama atmosphere of stylish dissolves stubbing the Morse Code across the screen towards guiding the planes to safety, landing at glamour shots of the three air traffic controllers.

Made near the end of WWII, the screenplay by Yusaku Yamagata surprisingly does not go for macho posturing, instead wearing the stripes of silky Melodrama and "Woman's Picture", as the air control trio of Ueno,Matsumoto and Goto stay cool under pressure to guide the pilots to safely.

Kept in rooms with only air control kits, Setsuko Hara, Hideko Takamine and Hisako Yamane each give excellent performances as the air control trio, with Takamine tugging at Matsumoto's moments of doubt,Yamane bringing a sense of camaraderie out of Goto,and Hara sliding all the pressure placed on Ueno's shoulders off into the air.

Three Smart Girls Go To War

[boblipton · 6/10 · 13 May 2022]

Setsuko Hara, Hideko Takamine, and Hisako Yamane are the first woman graduates of air radio school. They are assigned to a northern airport, where they make up an efficient ground crew, despite their beefs with each other; this is, after all, Japan and every individual wants to excel for the good of all. But when there is no male radio operator to accompany Shin Saburi during an enemy incursion, will manager Takashi Shimura let Miss Takamine measure up to the task?

It's quite a cast for Toho's last film released during the War, on August 5, 1945. The next day Hiroshima was struck by an atom bomb, and less than a month later, Japan surrendered. You can look at this movie as a propaganda piece, telling women they had an important role to play in the "One hundred million dead" campaign foreseen as a response to the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands by Allied Forces. Or you could admire how cute Miss Takamine looks in her uniform, all grown up from the child star of the previous decade. Or you can do both. I did the last.