Souls on the Road

Souls on the Road
Souls on the Road
Directed by	Minoru Murata
Screenplay by	Kiyohiko Ushihara
Based on	Children on the Street; byWilhelm Schmidtbonnand on the playThe Lower DepthsbyMaxim Gorky
Produced by	Kaoru Osanai
Starring	Kaoru Osanai; Haruko Sawamura; Denmei Suzuki
Release date	8 April 1921;
Country	Japan
Language	Silent film

Souls on the Road(Lộ thượng の linh hồn,Rojō no Reikon)is a 1921 Japanesesilent filmdirected byMinoru Murata.Film criticMark Cousinswrote that it was "the first landmark film in Japanese history".^[1]The film's plot is adapted from Maxim Gorky's play, The Lower Depths, and Wilhelm Schmidtbonn's drama, Children on the Street.^[2]

Plot

Prodigal son Koichiro is introduced midway through his failing career as a violinist in Tokyo. Following a violent incident in which he assaulted a critic, he is expelled from the orchestra and retreats from Tokyo with his wife Yōko and daughter Fumiko. The three determine to return to Koichiro's mountain home to his father.

On the arduous winter journey, two recently liberated convicts Tsurikichi and Kamezo attempt to rob them on the road but when they find out that the family have nothing, they share their bread with the family.

On arriving home, Koichiro is vehemently rejected by his father, despite pleading on behalf of his daughter and the gathering snow storm.

In a nearby villa, Reijo and her guests celebrate Christmas with decorations andYagibushidancers. Her butler discovers the escapees trying to break into a store house but takes mercy on them and invites them into the gathering.

Meanwhile, Koichiro and family try to take refuge from the storm in a hay-bale storehouse. Late in the night Koichiro's father comes to remove them from the barn, but discovers his granddaughter has died from the cold. The next day Koichiro is found by Reijo and the woodcutter in the snow, also having frozen to death. The pair wonder whether their lives might have been saved if they had been shown mercy.

The film emphasizes the mercy shown by many characters, including the father Sugino towards the jilted fiancé Mitsuko, the ex-convicts Tsurikichi and Kamezo towards the family, and the butler towards Tsurikichi and Kamezo, in contrast against the stubborn rejection of the father towards his prodigal son.

Cast

Sugino:Kaoru Osanai
Sugino's son, Koichiro:Denmei Suzuki
Koichiro's wife, Yōko:Haruko Sawamura [ja] trạch thôn xuân tử
Koichiro's daughter, Fumiko:Mikiko Hisamatsu
Koichiro's previously betrothed, Mitsuko:Ryuko Date
Taro, the young woodcutter:Minoru Murata
Ex-con 1 Tsurikichi:Minami Kōmei
Ex-con 2 Kamezo:Shigeru Tsutamura
Reijo of the villa:Yuriko Hanabusa
Butler of the villa:Kiyohiko Ushihara
Guard of the villa: Sōtarō Okada[ja] cương điền tông thái lang

Legacy

ProfessorMitsuyo Wada-Marcianohas noted that the performance of Yuriko Hanabusa directly recreates details ofMary Pickford's characters whereas later films such as A Burden of Life depict more subtle referentiality between Hollywood conventions and Japanese daily life.^[3]

References

^Mark Cousins (4 October 2006).The Story of Film.Da Capo Press. p. 56.ISBN 978-1-56025-933-6.Retrieved10 April2013.
^Pinar, Alex (1 August 2023)."Russian Literature in Japanese Film: Cross-cultural Adaptations in the Silent Era"(PDF).Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).Retrieved3 September2024.
^Wada-Marciano, Mitsuyo (2008).Nippon modern: Japanese cinema of the 1920s and 1930s.Honolulu, T. H: University of Hawaiʿi Press. pp. 82–3.ISBN 978-0-8248-3182-0.

External links

Rojo no ReikonatIMDb

This article related to a Japanese film of the 1920s is astub.You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it.

[Cousins-1] Mark Cousins (4 October 2006).The Story of Film.Da Capo Press. p. 56.ISBN 978-1-56025-933-6.Retrieved10 April2013.

[2] Pinar, Alex (1 August 2023)."Russian Literature in Japanese Film: Cross-cultural Adaptations in the Silent Era"(PDF).Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).Retrieved3 September2024.

[3] Wada-Marciano, Mitsuyo (2008).Nippon modern: Japanese cinema of the 1920s and 1930s.Honolulu, T. H: University of Hawaiʿi Press. pp. 82–3.ISBN 978-0-8248-3182-0.

[1]

[2]

[3]