is a

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Jan ...

Japanese film The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world; as of 2021, it was the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. In 2011 Japan produced 411 feature films that ea ...

directed by

Seijun Suzuki , born (24 May 1923 – 13 February 2017), was a Japanese filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. His films are known for their jarring visual style, irreverent humour, nihilistic cool and entertainment-over-logic sensibility. He made 40 predo ...

for the

Nikkatsu Corporation is a Japanese entertainment company known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio, founded in 1912 during the silent film era. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literal ...

. It is Suzuki's first color film.日活アクションの華麗な世界：1954-1971 第七章"小僧アクション"の登場-和田浩治の短い活躍期 p.206-213

Cast

Kōji Wada was a Japanese pop singer. He was best known for performing theme songs for several installments of the '' Digimon'' anime television series, including his recording debut in 1999 with his first and most famous single, "Butter-Fly", the theme s ...

as Sadao Matsudaira *

Chikako Hosokawa Chikako (written: , or ) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *Chikako, Princess Kazu *Fujiwara no Chikako (藤原親子), Japanese noblewoman and waka poet *, Japanese snowboarder *, Japanese female volleybal ...

as Ikuyo Matsudaira, his grandmother * Emiko Azuma as Yuki Maebara *

Mayumi Shimizu Mayumi may refer to: *Mayumi (name) Mayumi (まゆみ, マユミ) is a common Japanese given name, particularly for females. Possible writings Mayumi can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *真弓 or 眞弓, "truth, bow" or ...

as Kazuko Izeki *

Kaku Takashina was a Japanese actor. He won the award for best supporting actor at the 9th Hochi Film Award and at the 6th Yokohama Film Festival for ''Mahjong hōrōki''. Selected filmography *''Tekken no machi'' (1947) *''Arabiya monogatari'' (1951) *''Koi ...

as Sanshiro Izeki, Kazuko's father *

Eitaro Ozawa , also credited as Sakae Ozawa (小沢栄), was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1935 and 1988, directed by notable filmmakers such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita and Kaneto Shindo, Kaneto Shindō ...

as Kanjuro Mizoguchi, Sadao's uncle * Hiroshi Kondo as Nanjo * Toppa Utsumi as Uchiyama * Saburo Hiromatsu as Kodaira

Plot

Sadao, a young construction worker, believes himself to be an orphan and in spite of his youthful tempestuousness he is nonetheless a model of honesty and moral integrity: he introduces himself by crashing into the office of a company president in order to claim the indemnity that he owes the foreman's daughter because he caused the man's death by dangerous driving. Shortly after this altercation, Sadao learns that he actually is the only heir of a noble and rich family from Awaji Island. A messenger tries to convince him by all means to accept the inheritance, but Sadao's moral integrity prevents him from leaving his friends and he refuses to accept this sudden ticket to fortune and high society. When the messenger realizes that the young man is immune to the material temptations such an offer carries, he manages to persuade him with the promise that he will be reunited with his mother. Pressured by his buddies' enthusiasm, Sadao gives in and leaves for Awaji, where he is welcomed by his aristocratic grandmother. The ''obaasan'' ("granny", as he defiantly calls her) is shocked by her grandson's disarming sincerity, a far cry from the hypocritical manners inherent in any high society member. When Sadao finds out that the promise to join his mother was just a trick to attract him to the island, he devotes all his efforts to finding her himself. At the same time spends the family fortune on building a public park and a western-style youth hostel on lands owned by the family. However, he is unaware that a shady speculator has plans to appropriate these lands, and that the businessman's girlfriend is none other than Sadao's mother.

References

External links

Japan Foundation notes
at Cinefiles * * *

' at the

Japanese Movie Database The , more commonly known as simply JMDb, is an online database of information about Japanese movies, actors, and production crew personnel. It is similar to the Internet Movie Database but lists only those films initially released in Japan. Y. ...

1960 films 1960s crime films Films based on Japanese novels Films directed by Seijun Suzuki 1960s Japanese-language films Nikkatsu films 1960s Japanese films {{1960s-Japan-film-stub