Mifune plays a gentle laborer in this forgotten 57-minute gem of postwar Tokyo.
A woman struggles to raise her young son on her own in postwar Japan, finding companionship with a kind laborer while still hoping for the return of her missing husband.
Acting
Mifune's rare gentle turn opposite screen legend Isuzu Yamada.
Cinematography
Evocative shitamachi location shooting in bombed-out Tokyo streets.
Production
Toho's B-programmer that punches way above its weight class.
Director
Yasuki Chiba
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shitamachi (downtown) culture represented the resilient working-class heart of Tokyo, often romanticized in postwar cinema as the 'real' Japan versus modernized Ginza.
Toho churned out dozens of these 'program pictures' weekly; this one survives largely because Mifune became a global star.
JP
