The Neighbor's Wife and Mine
Encyclopedia
was the first Japanese narrative film to fully employ sound. A 1931 release, it was directed by Heinosuke Gosho
.
Sound came later to Japanese cinema than in many other countries because of the enduring popularity of the benshi, also known as katsuben, cinema lecturers/narrators who would accompany each screening by giving voice and sound to otherwise "silent" films.
The film opens with Shibano, a playwright for a Tokyo theater, squabbling with a painter over his work depicting a local house, newly for rent. The two stumble into the street only to be interrupted when Shibano accidentally falls into the women's section of a nearby bathhouse. The woman who appears to scold them ends up dissolving the situation, and Shibano finally states his desire to move into the house pictured previously.
Soon, Shibano and his family have moved in, but he is late on his deadline for a new script and the family is running low on money. When they move to the new town, he hopes to be inspired and to finish the script. His first attempts do not go so well, with distractions from his children and his wife, as well as his own procrastination. The neighbors were also distracting, as they hosted the practices for a jazz band. When Shibano went next door to ask them to quiet down, he was invited by the wife of the household to stay and watch the rehearsal-the same woman who had previously calmed the fighting pair down.. As the group practiced and treated Shibano to drink, he listened to the song lyrics and became infected with the new jazz fever of the period. The song, about the "Age of Speed" inspired him to go home and finish his script; the movie ends with a more modernized family reflecting on their differences from the local farmers.
Heinosuke Gosho
was a Japanese film director who directed Japan's first talkie, The Neighbor's Wife and Mine, in 1931. He once served as president of the Directors Guild of Japan.- Selected filmography :* Aiyoku no ki...
.
Sound came later to Japanese cinema than in many other countries because of the enduring popularity of the benshi, also known as katsuben, cinema lecturers/narrators who would accompany each screening by giving voice and sound to otherwise "silent" films.
Plot
The comedic story depicts a playwright attempting to write a play by a strict deadline and getting distracted by noisy children, neighbors, and his wife.The film opens with Shibano, a playwright for a Tokyo theater, squabbling with a painter over his work depicting a local house, newly for rent. The two stumble into the street only to be interrupted when Shibano accidentally falls into the women's section of a nearby bathhouse. The woman who appears to scold them ends up dissolving the situation, and Shibano finally states his desire to move into the house pictured previously.
Soon, Shibano and his family have moved in, but he is late on his deadline for a new script and the family is running low on money. When they move to the new town, he hopes to be inspired and to finish the script. His first attempts do not go so well, with distractions from his children and his wife, as well as his own procrastination. The neighbors were also distracting, as they hosted the practices for a jazz band. When Shibano went next door to ask them to quiet down, he was invited by the wife of the household to stay and watch the rehearsal-the same woman who had previously calmed the fighting pair down.. As the group practiced and treated Shibano to drink, he listened to the song lyrics and became infected with the new jazz fever of the period. The song, about the "Age of Speed" inspired him to go home and finish his script; the movie ends with a more modernized family reflecting on their differences from the local farmers.
Cast
- Atsushi WatanabeAtsushi Watanabeis a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet . A native of Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima and graduate of Komazawa University, he was elected to the first of his two terms in the city assembly of Aizuwakamatsu in 1982, to the first of his...
as Shibano Shinnsaku, the playwright. - Kinuyo TanakaKinuyo Tanakawas a Japanese actress and director.Tanaka was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. She became a leading actress at an early age, appearing in Yasujirō Ozu's I Graduated, But... in 1929...
as Shibano's wife. - Satoko Date as Yamakawa Takiko, the neighbor's wife.
- Mitsuko Ichimura as the playwright's daughter.
- Shinichi Himori
- Yukiko Inoue
- Tokuji Kobayashi
- Takeshi Sakamoto
Links
- :ja:マダムと女房
- http://movie.ontvjapan.com/RatingUserList/movie/129454
- The cinema of Gosho Heinosuke: laughter through tears By Arthur Nolletti http://books.google.com/books?id=u5-_WZSne_QC&pg=PA264&dq=Heinosuke+Gosho's+The+Neighbor's+Wife+and+Mine&hl=en&ei=zD-ETKekNYWBlAfIwJThDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The%20Neighbor's%20Wife%20and%20Mine&f=false
- Film Fest Journal http://www.filmref.com/journal/archives/2005/09/the_neighbors_wife_and_mine_19.html