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ASAKUSA NO HI
(Lights of Asakusa)
A SHOCHIKU PICTURE
Asakusa is the name of a popular amusement quarter which is located in a corner of Tokyo, adjacent to the famous Asakusa Kannon Temple. Movie theatres, music and other show-houses that cater to the masses' line the streets, and together with a wide variety of shops and amusement places that surround them, they constitute a thriving centre where people of all walks of life congregate. At one time, some twenty years ago, the opera existed here in all its glory, side by side with the cinema and legitimate shows. At least it went by the name of opera, though it was not the genuine stuff but rather a popularized version, a cheap affair along the lines of a musical show and done on a small scale. This flourishing medium of entertainment aroused, on the one hand, a curiosity for Western music and Western shows, and served, on the other, as the precursor of the revue, which is now the rage in Japan.
“ Lights of Asakusa ” is a melodrama which treats of this amusement street in that era and is based on a popular novel by Hiroshi Hamamoto. The hero is the brawny, chivalrous Shichiro Yamagami, an actor of an operatic troupe called Nippon-za. The rest of the cast is a hodge-podge of such characters as a chorus girl named Reiko Kosugi ; a poor painter in love with the girl and known as Bokacho (a denominational parody of Boccaccio) ; the leader of the operatic troupe who strives for the establishment of a fine, worthwhile show ; an ambitions actor who leaves the troupe for a career on the reguler stage; a girl named O-ryu, of a shooting gallery ; and a number of hooligans who infest the amusement quarter. Around this cast a movie filled with many suspenses and heart feelings has been made which eminently appeals to the taste of the general public.
The director, Yasujiro Shimazu, is a veteran of the film world. While it cannot be said that he has here exhibited the full measure of his talents, one nevertheless notes in this picture that he is still a master hand at cinema craftsmanship. The operatic scenes are taken under the guidance of Shizuko Shimizu, an opera star of yesteryear. KISAO UCHIDA
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