As you might guess from the title, this was a two-part movie, the second half released a couple of months after this. Hiroko Kawasaki is a woman living with her father, a retired government employee, engaged to Ureo Egawa, the scion of a wealthy family. At a party thrown by his family, she is attacked by Egawa's brother, Jôji Oka. This disgraces her, not him. Her father has a stroke, her elder sister falls ill. While Egawa walks out on his family and gets a job so they can be married, she discovers that caring for her sister is an expensive proposition. While Oka's family doesn't particularly care what He does, the threat of public disgrace would imperil business, so they offer Miss Kawasaki a large chunk of money, which she can use for either a trousseau or to settle the entire matter. She agrees to marry Oka.
The second movie will continue this story. Splitting movies up like this was an occasional way of dealing with major Japanese productions in this period, features that exceeded two hours. The fact that it was directed by Hiroshima Shimizu, who would become noted for stories about real people with real problems, particularly children, is considered problematic by fans of the auteur theory. Clearly, they argue, this was not typical of Shimizu, and therefore, despite its great success, is a lesser movie. Yet during the Japanese studio period, freedom followed success. It did not precede it, and Shimizu, despite have directed more than 40 movies since 1924, was not yet considered a great director. I think it most likely that he took it the way any ambitious director would: a challenge to work with a fine cast - including a young Hideko Takamine - and produce a powerful drama.
And it is a powerful drama, even though its soap-opera details are not compelling to me. It emphasizes the plight of the powerless women, the rapacity of the uncaring rich, and the performers give it their all. Certainly you can see Miss Kawasaki always thinking and calculating once the weight of the world descends on her. While I prefer Shimizu's later works, with his concerns about practical solutions to the problems of many, I am not going to sneer at craftsman-like work such as this.
The second movie will continue this story. Splitting movies up like this was an occasional way of dealing with major Japanese productions in this period, features that exceeded two hours. The fact that it was directed by Hiroshima Shimizu, who would become noted for stories about real people with real problems, particularly children, is considered problematic by fans of the auteur theory. Clearly, they argue, this was not typical of Shimizu, and therefore, despite its great success, is a lesser movie. Yet during the Japanese studio period, freedom followed success. It did not precede it, and Shimizu, despite have directed more than 40 movies since 1924, was not yet considered a great director. I think it most likely that he took it the way any ambitious director would: a challenge to work with a fine cast - including a young Hideko Takamine - and produce a powerful drama.
And it is a powerful drama, even though its soap-opera details are not compelling to me. It emphasizes the plight of the powerless women, the rapacity of the uncaring rich, and the performers give it their all. Certainly you can see Miss Kawasaki always thinking and calculating once the weight of the world descends on her. While I prefer Shimizu's later works, with his concerns about practical solutions to the problems of many, I am not going to sneer at craftsman-like work such as this.
