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Traveling Actor

★★★

Released December 18, 1940 (Showa 15) / Black and white / 71 minutes / Toho Kyoto Studios /

Produced by Himuro Teppei, based on the original story by Ui Mushu, adapted and directed by Naruse Mikio

Cinematography by Kizuka Seiichi, music by Hayasaka Fumio, art direction by Abe Teruaki

Starring Fujiwara Keita (Kamatari), Yanagidani Hiroshi, Takase Minori, Mihashi-ko, Yamane Toshiko, Kiyokawa Nijiko, Ise Sugiko

Naruse's new work is his first in a year and four months since "Magogoro" released in August of the previous year.

In 1940, Naruse divorced actress Chiba Sachiko. Was there a misunderstanding between the popular actress and the popular director? In a later interview, Takamine Hideko said of the Naruse couple, who lived next door to each other at the time, "No one thought their marriage would go well. His wife was the kind of person who would play the koto at home." He also stated that Naruse had been actively pursuing him since they started dating. This film was his first directorial work since his divorce.

The story is a comedy about traveling performers, very similar to "Circus Five" released five years earlier.

The main roles are played by Fujiwara Kamatari, who was 35 at the time, and Yanagida Hiroshi, who was 29.

Yanagida Hiroshi was known as a unique supporting actor with a simple atmosphere. He appeared in all of the Toei films "Moonlight Mask" as Gorohachi. He also appeared in many special effects films produced by Tsuburaya Productions. He played a variety of roles, including a policeman and a ship's crew member.

Takase Minori, who was 43 years old at the time, plays the leader of the troupe, Kikugoro VI of "Nakamura".

He had played a dopey junk dealer in Yamanaka Sadao's "Tanka Sazen Yowa: The Million Ryo Pot".

And the barber who is promoting the show, mistaking him for "Onoue Kikugorou VI",

Nakamura Koreyoshi (left) of the Enoken troupe

He participated in the launch of Enomoto Kenichi's Casino Folies and played an active role as a central member of the Enoken troupe. He played a comic role in a movie starring Enoken, and after the war, he appeared in many productions with his down-to-earth acting. In his later years, he became known as a bonsai artist and served as the president of the Japan Bonsai Artists Association.

Fujiwara and Yanagida acted as a pair on stage as horses. It was a difficult role, and they boasted that it took 10 years of training for the front legs and 5 years for the hind legs. One night, a drunk Nakamura fell asleep on the head of a stuffed horse and collapsed. Takase, in a pinch, procured a real horse from an acrobatics troupe. When they put it on stage, the audience was a huge success. Now that they're no longer needed, the two sulky guys put on horse costumes and chase a real horse around town, which is how the film "ends."

It seems to have been shot at a studio in Kyoto, and many of the staff members are unfamiliar with the names.

There are two crane cuts, which may have been the first time a crane was used in a Naruse film.

The Tripartite Pact between Japan, Germany, and Italy was signed in September of that year, and the atmosphere of military boots was becoming increasingly stronger at the time.

It was probably a nonsense comedy that served as a breath of fresh air.