Tsuruhachi Tsurujirô

This film involves two teenage musicians known simply as "Jiro" (Isuzu Yamada) and "Toyo" (Kazuo Hasegawa) who have trained together for a very long time and have finally achieved popular success in Tokyo. Naturally, being young and so well acquainted, the two of them have grown quite attracted to one another even though neither have expressed their emotional feelings as each of them prefer to concentrate on their music instead. To make matters even more difficult is the fact that Jiro is often overly critical of Toyo's musical ability even though she is one of the best shamisen players in Tokyo. This criticism continues until one day the two of them have an intense argument which causes each of them to go their separate ways. It's only then that they realize how much each of them meant to the other. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a pretty good film which has managed to withstand the test of time quite well. Of course, being produced in Japan prior to World War 2, the overall picture quality isn't that great but even so there is a certain depth to the story that more than compensates for it. Having said that, I recommend this picture for any viewers who might be interested in a romantic drama of this type.