The Lights of Asakusa (1937)

movie

(52)

Country: Japan
Genres: Drama, Romance
Release: 1937-12-02
Director: Yasujirō Shimazu
Writers: Tadao Ikeda
Language: Japanese
Stars: Ken Uehara , Mieko Takamine , Kaneko Fujiwara , Shinichi Himori , Akio Isono , Reikichi Kawamura , Daijirō Natsukawa , Seiji Nishimura , Fumiko Okamura , Chishū Ryū
Runtime: 104 min
Awards: N/A
AKA: The Lights of Asakusa , Огни Асакуса (Russian Federation) , 浅草之灯 (China) , Asakusa no hi , The Lights of Asakusa (United States of America) , The Lights of Asakusa (Hong Kong) , 淺草之燈 (Hong Kong) , Asakusa no tomoshibi (Japan) , The Lights of Asakusa (United Kingdom) , 浅草の灯 (Japan)
Plot: A down-and-out opera company, which does oompah versions of Schuman operas, is falling apart. Their leading man walks out because the audience heckles him, and Mieko Takamine is 'sold' by her landlords to a rich gangster. It's up to Ken Uehara to make order out of the chaos, which he does very poorly; he wants Miss Takamine himself, and she him, but of course both are too shy to make an advance.Yasujirô Shimazu's movie about a small-town company of performers is dirty and a bit gritty, with the theater next to a shooting gallery, and everyone knowing everyone else. It's a story of a part of Japan outside the usual Tokyo setting for such stories, the sort of movie, half travelogue, half romance, that he was directing at the time. Because of the aimlessness of the characters, the plot proceeds in a desultory fashion; because the opera company is third rate, the performances are almost comic. The characters take everything very seriously, though. It is, after all, their lives. Is it what they want to do?
IMDB:tt0484253