Mr. Thank You (1936)
Do catch this black-and-white film from 1936, directed by Shimizu Hiroshi. A simple bus ride from a rural town with a cheerful driver, popular with everyone he meets, but the story has much more to tell us.Mid 1930s were recession times, which meant young women who did not marry could only find work in the big cities, at paper mills or work of a kind that could not be mentioned.
The story also hints at the plight of out-of-work males who went back to their home towns, and migrant women who followed construction crews around as they built roads, tunnels, railways in the countryside...I like the subtitles, they are terrific - except perhaps in the choice of the English word "migrant" for wataridori 渡り鳥 (migratory birds) because that is also mentioned, that such birds, they will return...
Yet the sense of warmth is strongly communicated, and there is the jazz music and the scenery and the smiles and the kids and the narratives.
Do watch before you comment. A rare glimpse into a Japan most of us cannot imagine. You get points if you can identify the route!
Based on a story called "Arigatou" by Kawabata Yasunari. Mayumi Tsukiji plays the 17 year old girl who travels with her mother to Tokyo... Ken Uehara is the bus driver.
The first road movie, ever...?
Comments
The dirty old man with the fake mustache is so funny, he reminds me of Arte Johnson on Rowan and Martin's Laugh In sitting next to Ruth Buzzi on a bench and asking "Want a Walnetto?".
I don't know what the route was, but perhaps from Izu Penninsula to Tokyo? A man wanted the bus to Shimoda early on and Amagi was mentioned - Amagi Mountains?
Thanks for sharing this find.
There is some amazing natural scenery in this 1936 film, maybe someone could do a video comparing some of the views as they look today!