The Neighbor's Wife and Mine
| The Neighbor's Wife and Mine | |
|---|---|
 | |
| マダムと女房 | |
| Directed by | Heinosuke Gosho |
| Written by |
|
| Produced by | Shirō Kido |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Monjiro Mizutani |
| Music by |
|
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Shochiku |
Release date |
|
Running time | 64 minutes[1] |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
The Neighbor's Wife and Mine (マダムと女房, Madamu to nyōbō) is a 1931 Japanese comedy film directed by Heinosuke Gosho. It was Japan's first feature length film to fully employ sound.[2][3]
Plot[]
The comedic story depicts a playwright attempting to write a play by a strict deadline and getting distracted by his family and a noisy next-door jazz band.
The film opens with Shibano, a playwright for a Tokyo theater, squabbling with a painter over his work depicting a local house, newly up 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. His first attempts do not go well, with distractions from his children and his wife, as well as his own procrastination. The neighbors are also distracting, as they host the rehearsals of a jazz band. When Shibano goes next door to ask them to quiet down, he is invited by the wife of the household to stay and watch the rehearsal. She turns out to be the same woman who previously intervened in Shibano's fight in Tokyo. As the group practices and treats Shibano to drink, he listens to the song lyrics and becomes infected with the new jazz fever of the period. The song about the "Age of Speed" inspires 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 Watanabe as Shibano Shinnsaku, the playwright
- Kinuyo Tanaka 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
Awards[]
The Neighbor's Wife and Mine won the 1932 Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film.[4]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b "愛慾の記 (The Neighbor's Wife and Mine)". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 4 February 2021.
- ^ Nolletti Jr., Arthur (2008). The Cinema of Gosho Heinosuke: Laughter through Tears. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34484-7.
- ^ Jacoby, Alexander (2008). Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-53-2.
- ^ "The Neighbor's Wife and Mine: Awards". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
External links[]
- The Neighbor's Wife and Mine at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)
- The Neighbor's Wife and Mine at IMDb
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- 1930 films
- Japanese-language films
- 1931 films
- 1931 comedy films
- Japanese films
- Japanese comedy films
- Japanese black-and-white films
- Films directed by Heinosuke Gosho
- Best Film Kinema Junpo Award winners
- Japanese film stubs
- 1930s film stubs