Also Directed by Tomotaka Tasaka
The conquest of China via Japanese WWII propaganda.
With her family suffering from extreme poverty, Yuko, as the eldest daughter, is sold to a successful brothel in Kyoto. There she is assigned to serve Takamatsu, one of the brothel’s top customers. But while Takamatsu falls madly in love with Yuko, she finds herself attracted to a young priest named Kunugida. Torn by jealousy, Takamatsu hatches an evil plan to tear them apart.
Mother and younglings
Directed by Tomotaka Tasaka.
Three stories revolve around independence, a man searching for his wife, and a poor craftsman trying to make money.
Tomotaka Tasaka's A Pebble by the Wayside (Robo no Ishi), made in 1938 and taken from a Yuzo Yamamoto novel, takes place around 1902, was about a young boy brought up entirely by his mother since his drunken father is never home. An intelligent teacher wants to send him to middle school, but instead the father apprentices him to a clothing store to which he is in debt. The mother dies and the boy is forced to quit work when his father insults the store owner. Later the boy goes to Tokyo, but only to continue his hardships. First he is forced to do a maid's job at a boarding house and later is used by an old woman to steal at funerals. Finally he is rescued by the teacher, whom he meets in Tokyo.
A touching story about a young boy, Genta, who bravely takes on life's challenges in hopes of finding a better life for himself and his sickly mother.
The fourth and final Japanese entry in the 1957 Venice Film Festival, Ubagaruma is also known as The Baby Carriage. Upon discovering that her father has a mistress, a young girl befriends the "other woman" and her child. Realizing that her half-sister is doomed to being regarded as an outcast, the heroine sets about to spiritually legitimize the girl. It was difficult for the festival judges to assess the film, since it apparently had been severely edited to conform with American censorship. The judges were, however, impressed by Ubagaruma's curious blend of comedy and drama.
Tomotaka Tasaka's earliest surviving surviving film is a powerful adaptation of Hector Malot's "Nobody's Girl".
