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AKANISHI KAKITA
A Nikkatsu Production
Akanishi Kakita is the name of the hero of this motion picture. The screen play was adapted from the short story of Naoya Shiga, one of the best novelists of Japan, by Mansaku Itami, who also directed it.
Considering the age in which the story is laid, this film play comes under the category of what is known as “ Jidai-geki” (period film); but the director Mansaku Itami, in consequence of his peculiar tastes and view of life, has turned out a motion picture which is far from being a mediocre period film. To be sure, there are several places in the development of the play which suggest a redundant treatment and show that Itami has been hampered by the prolixity of his tastes; but his cynicism and his satirical spirit are characteristics that can be readily perceived even in this motion picture.
The story has been suggested by an oae sodo (literally, family strife, and characteriz¬ ed by intrigues and usurpations of Daimyo under the feudal regime), called the Date sodo, Date being the name of the particular Daimyo involved. The hero is the strange and eccentric Akanishi Kakita who participated in this ode sodo as a spy of the faithful retainer; and the episode itself is used as a background. Akanishi wore a shaggy beard; he had moles on his face; he had an extremely unprepossessing countenance; he was a perpetual dyspeptic and used medicinal herbs; and he played shogi, or Japanese chess, as a habitual pastime. The film play shows this queer individual, who moved and had his being in a world of his own, and was generally regarded by the people as a tool, finally discovering the intrigue of the conspirators; and with his seizure of the documentary proof, the plot thickens. He committed an ignominious sort of indiscretion as a pretext for escaping from the mansion of the conspirators’ confederate. Urged by his associates, he sent a love letter to Sazanami, a lady-attendant employed at this mansion and the most beautiful woman there. To his amazement, he learned that Sazanami had, as a matter of fact, been secretly in love with him. Thereupon the clumsy and awkward Akanishi fell into a great predicament. But in the end the film play shows how Harada Kai, the leader of the conspirators, finally met his doom; and the story comes to a close with the fulfilment of the strange love between Akanishi and Sazanami.
This motion picture is Chiezo Kataoka’s production, and he performs the dual role of Akanishi Kakita and Harada Kai. Mineko Mori is cast as the leading woman, while Shosaku Sugiyama plays the part of the faithful retainer, Matsumae Tetsunosuke.
Kisao Uchida
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