Humanity and Paper Balloons

Humanity and Paper Balloons 1937

7.80

In a slum in Edo Japan, a ronin hopes that his deceased father's former master will hire him while a disgraced hairdresser attempts to regain his pride by kidnapping the daughter of a wealthy pawnbroker, who is set to be married.

1937

Akireta renchû

Akireta renchû 1936

1

The first in a series of films featuring the comedy duo Entatsu-Achako, providing them with a background story to do their popular manzai-routines on film. Here, Entatsu and Achako start out as rivals for the affection of a young woman but ultimately pair up to face a bigger rival. Entatsu chooses to become a boxer to get his chance at punching the rival out of the way.

1936

Five Men in a Circus

Five Men in a Circus 1935

5.40

The main focus is on the 5 member band of a small circus as it runs into problems while touring rural Japan. It also pays lots of attention to the two daughters of the aging and irascible ringmaster-circus owner. The high points are the sound (and score) and cinematography featuring a lot of vertiginous panning (appropriate - as high wire trapeze artists are also an important element in the film). A fascinating side-light on 30s Japan.

1935

The Girl in the Rumor

The Girl in the Rumor 1935

5.90

A story of two sisters, the older being more traditional, the younger a "moga" ("modern girl"). Their widowed father runs the family sake shop, but is running into financial trouble, causing him to tamper with his stock; Meanwhile, his long-time mistress yearns for something more serious. Amidst this, the older sister is introduced to a well-off suitor: A university boy, much more intrigued by the less traditional little sister. A doddering grandfather, an officious uncle and busybody neighbors also don't make the lives of the hardworking members of the family any easier.

1935

The Actress and the Poet

The Actress and the Poet 1935

6.20

Among the tight-knit neighbours are a poet, his actress wife, a bachelor budding author, a tobacco shop owner-cum-landlady, an insurance salesman and his nosy and greedy wife. Enter a young and seemingly high-class couple who just so happens is open to purchasing life insurance from their swift neighbour. In the meantime, life is imitating art across the street, which may end up providing for either a happy ending or a rude split - eventually that is.

1935

Enoken's The Millionaire, Part 1

Enoken's The Millionaire, Part 1 1936

1

Enoken plays a cloistered rich kid whose father hires a disreputable tutor to teach him how to really be a millionaire: by drunken debauchery, women, and song.

1936

Wife! Be Like a Rose!

Wife! Be Like a Rose! 1935

7.00

Kimiko, a Tokyo white-collar working girl, lives with her serious, intellectual, haiku-writing mother. Kimiko seeks to marry her boyfriend but needs her absent father to act as the go-between and negotiate the marriage. Kimiko travels and finds her father living with a second family.

1935

Drifting

Drifting 1935

1

Adaptation of Fumiko Hayashi's novel.

1935

Avalanche

Avalanche 1937

6.50

The study of a one-year marriage that begins to crumble. A married man is torn between the love of his wife, and the attraction to a cousin of his wife.

1937

Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts

Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts 1935

6.80

Three sisters earn money for their bossy mother by being samisen street musicians. This means mainly playing a banjo type instrument for tips in bars...

1935

Morning's Tree-Lined Street

Morning's Tree-Lined Street 1936

6.70

As suggested by the title, this film takes up the theme of the city, beginning with a series of traveling shots from Chiyo's point of view on a bus leaving the countryside and entering the metropolitan cityscape. After some fruitless job hunting in downtown Tokyo, Chiyo accepts a job as a bar hostess in Shiba ward. Well away from glamorous Asakusa and Ginza, this is a neighborhood bar where the women are dirt poor, each having only one kimono to their name....

1936

Enoken's The Magician

Enoken's The Magician 1934

1

Enoken plays a magician real powers come from his magical hat. A jealous theater owner sends girls, then goons, to keep Enoken from performing his grand show!

1934

A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again

A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again 1937

1

Kayo and Kuniko graduated from girls' school together and are as close as sisters. Kuniko's fiancé, Minakami, feels something that attracts him deeply towards Kayo. On the other hand, Kayo prays for the happiness of her best friend and marries a very ordinary man. However, at one point, this mediocre but increasingly ferocious husband died in an accident ... A triangular love story develops depicting a woman's heart that sways between love and morals. Based on a novel by Nobuko Yoshiya, there were originally two parts to the film (If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again), both supposed to be 85 minutes, but apparently what we have now is this 103-minute amalgam of the two.

1937

The Road I Travel with You

The Road I Travel with You 1936

6.30

The otherwise promising young man Asaji (Heihachirô Ôkawa) and his younger brother Yuji (Hideo Saeki) face blighted lives because of society's disapproval of their illegitmacy and déclassé family.

1936