Ornamental Hairpin (1941)

At a rural spa, a soldier accidentally cuts his foot on a hairpin. Soon enough he tracks down its lovely owner and finds himself smitten.

Director:

Hiroshi Shimizu

Writers:

Masuji Ibuse (story), Yoshitomo Nagase

Stars:

Shin'ichi Himori, Kanji Kawahara, Hiroko Kawasaki

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Shin'ichi Himori	...	Hiroyasu
Kanji Kawahara	...	Old Man
Hiroko Kawasaki	...	Okiku
Koji Matsumoto	...	Head clerk
Hideko Mimura	...	His Wife
Tsuneo Ohsugi	...	Tsune (as Tsuneo Osugi)
Chishû Ryû	...	Osamura
Tatsuo Saitô	...	Professor Katae
Takeshi Sakamoto	...	Inn's owner
Kinuyo Tanaka	...	Emi
Kayoko Terada	...	Maid
Jun Yokoyama	...	Taro
Munenobu Yui	...	Toku
Masayoshi Ôtsuka	...	Jiro

Storyline

Emi Ota and her friend Okiku stay briefly at a mountain inn and then return to Tokyo. Later, Nanmura, a soldier on leave, steps on an ornamental hairpin in the public bath at the inn. Emi writes to the inn saying she has lost a hairpin and, when she discovers that it injured Nanmura, returns to apologize. The longer term visitors at the inn meet together to discuss the hairpin incident. These include a grumpy Professor, a young couple Mr and Mrs Hiroyasu, and an old man staying with his two grandsons. They hope to see a romance blossom between Nanmura and Emi, after Nanmura declares that there is something almost poetic in finding a hairpin in the bath.

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

26 August 1941 (Japan)

Also Known As:

L'épingle à cheveux

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shochiku

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

Hilarious!

Viewed on DVD. Poor restoration. Warm, engaging, funny, and often hilarious! Yet another ("restored") film by director Hiroshi Shimizu that leaves the viewer wishing that things could have gone on a bit longer. The measure of not only a great director, but also a master showman! The extremes to which a group (including the "victim" of the hat pin "attack"--he stepped on it in a shallow pool) at a summer spa (all guests seem to be there because of discounted rates) will go to in order to see what the owner of the pin looks like are something to behold. And what the victim does to court the hair pin owner (even resorting to crutches to generate symphony) is fall-down funny. A typical Shimizu slice of life movie with many possible outcomes all left, as usual, to the viewer's imagination/contemplation. Cinematography is OK except for out-of-focus and over-exposed outdoor scenes that start the film off (given the jerky camera movements, it looks like tracking was not used, and the scenes were simply shot from a car trunk or the back of a truck). End-to-end dubbing is primitive with effects sounds especially artificial. Why the juvenile actors are dubbed as always SHOUTING their lines remains a distracting/grating mystery. Continuity suffers when characters say something has taken place, but subsequent scenes show otherwise. Score is written and performed at the level of, say, a grade school band--it's simply terrible and an embarrassing distraction. Acting is fine as are the subtitles. Restoration remains a work in progress as far as cleaning up over exposures, visible deterioration, and especially the audio. Sound artifacts are ever present. A fine film that rises above the primitive techniques employed in its manufacture and the marginal restoration presented on this disc. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.