Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
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Chiezô Kataoka | ... | Reisaburo Asai |
Ryôsuke Kagawa | ... | Soshichi Kagawaya | |
Takashi Shimura | ... | Kyosai Shimura | |
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Mitsuru Toyama | ... | Man-emon Toyama |
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Kajô Onoe | ... | Roku-be of Dogu-ya (antique dealer) |
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Hidemichi Ishikawa | ... | Matsusuke Matsuda |
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Eizaburo Kusunoki | ... | Sugiura |
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Ryutaro Chikamatsu | ... | Hinokiyama |
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Matsunosuke Fukui | ... | Takebayashi |
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Minoru Fujisaki | ... | Yanagawa |
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Shirô Osaki | ... | Tsubaki |
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Mitsuo Kobayashi | ... | Sankichi |
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Heizaburo Fujimura | ... | Young master of charcoal shop |
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Daihachiro Takebayashi | ... | Young master of grocer |
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Junosuke Arashi | ... | Young master of liquor shop |
Oharu is in love with ronin who lives next door, but he is being pursued by two of the town beauties. To make things even more difficult for Oharu, her father is obsessed with antiques, buying them even though he has little money and even when most of them eventually turn out to be fakes. A mistake, however, puts him deeply in debt to the local lord and he is confronted with having to sell Oharu in order to pay it off.
In fact I hated musical. It's unnatural that actors should suddenly begin to sing, isn't it? I was really stupefied, however, when I saw this film for the first time. 69 minutes are filled with pleasure! I thought Japanese couldn't make musicals, for their behavior is utterly different from that of Western people. Should they be able to imitate Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire to the life it would make nothing but ugliness.
This musical is truly based on Japanese behavior. The actors don't dance ostentatiously nor do they make excessive smile. They are just natural. Actually their singing is unskilled but it doesn't undermine its excellence. It seems that they are sincerely happy to sing (Dick Mine's stupid lord, Takeshi Shimura's antique crazy, Chiezo Kataoka's easygoing hero... all are terrific). I don't know any other movie than this which makes me so happy. Seeing this musical we can realize how delightful singing is. Stunning Movie!