Aizen katsura

There's a special Japanese word for this type of movie: surechigai – people who pass nearby but don't see each other. The title refers to a special Laurel tree that brings eternal love. Yes, it's a love story, pure and simple. And it was a huge hit back in pre-war Japan. The movie had the sophisticated look of a Hollywood film with a story to match. The protagonists were elite and the setting was modern urban. Despite being a single mother, Katsue lived in a nice, clean home and wore beautiful western clothes. What really put this film above the ordinary melodrama was the chemistry between Tanaka and Uehara – two hugely popular stars who continued to make films after the war. Both were young and beautiful. And Uehara's hair was so slick and oiled that he looked like an illustration. But we couldn't help feeling that they were meant for each other. It was the perfect escape from an uncertain world and still holds its own today.

Kinuyo Tanaka has a child, which is a problem for her being a nurse. Her fellow nurses agree to cover up for her. It's also a problem for her budding romance with handsome young doctor Ken Uehara. He's the son of the hospital's manager who wants Uehara to marry a socially advantageous woman. None the less, Uehara and Miss Tanaka decide to run off for a while. She doesn't show up because she's tending to her sick child, which causes problems in both her professional and love lives. Eventually she decides to chuck it all and become a professional singer.

There are a lot of problems with the script, which sets the situation and advances the plot via large chunks of exposition. This is surprising because the novel it was based on was written by Matsutarô Kawaguchi, who directed films in the silent era, and the screenplay was by Kôgo Noda, who would spend the 1950s writing screenplay for Ozu. The large assortment of careers Miss Tanaka rivals RANDOM HARVEST for a character's course of life, and Uehara seems to change directions whenever it suits the plot.

That said, director Hiromasa Nomura handles the screenplay in as workmanlike a fashion as he can. It's just a pity he wasn't given something a lot more coherent.